The unwritten rules of the PGA Tour driving range

Hey, gang! Welcome and welcome back. There’s only one week in between the last PGA TOUR season and the new one that begins with this week’s Fortinet Championship on Thursday, but it’s the best time to reset mentally because, just like the PGA TOUR members, we also start tied for first place with zero points. The holiday hiatus is important, of course, but if you don’t take a breath now, you might wish you did by Thanksgiving. It’s also easier to turn the page because PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf has received a new paint job. And, as promised in the Fantasy Insider for the Olympics, it’s also had some work done under the hood. First, to briefly review what hasn’t changed, you’re still starting up to four and benching up to two golfers in every tournament contributing to the game. You’re also limited to three starts per golfer for each of four Segments. How you build your lineup should require pause to determine how you want to play in the short- and long-term. The only measurement of fantasy scoring during all tournaments is hole-by-hole scoring by your starters. ShotLink no longer is used to generate fantasy scores. Fantasy scoring is identical to Modified Stableford scoring: Albatross = 8 points Eagle = 5 points Birdie = 2 points Par = 0 points Bogey = minus-1 point Double bogey or worse = minus-3 points Before I address expectations and strategy, bonus points for your starters in the final round will remain one-tenth FedExCup points earned. (Customarily, if any of your starters are non-members, the equivalent of bonus points will be added manually at some point after at the conclusion of the tournament.) I was granted a test drive of the new format during the first round of the TOUR Championship. At the end of the day, the total of my four starters was 35 points, which was good enough to lead about a dozen gamers. (I used the same lineup that I was using for the old version.) The simple correlation to understanding how you should perform is the Barracuda Championship, which also uses Modified Stableford scoring. In his four rounds, which is akin to one round in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf with four starters, Erik van Rooyen prevailed with a tournament-record 50 points. The equals at Barracuda to my lone round of four starters worth 35 points at the TOUR Championship were Lee Hodges and Bo Van Pelt, who tied for 11th place. In the old version, even when only one golfer scored 35 points in a single round, he was underperforming in most tournaments. This is to say that fantasy scoring will be WAY down in 2021-22. As I state that, I know that you might grumble about it, and that’s fine. Just remember that we’re all in the same boat and all of us will be adjusting to the new norm, and that’s fine, too. Because fantasy scoring will drop, aggressive strategies should rise. It’ll be easier to swallow zeroes for missed cuts, and I love that component of it. With the old game, cuts made had priority over leaderboard finish. Now, it’s the reverse because a second-place finish will reward 30 bonus points, which itself would be a good team total for a single round. As much as taking chances is encouraged, do it in doses. Actual scoring this week at Silverado will be low, so there will be some initial separation among the ranks as fantasy scoring will be elevated. Meanwhile, when a difficult course is the test, like Southern Hills for the U.S. Open next year, fantasy scoring will be seriously low. Note that a negative total is possible, too, but it’s all relative to others. But before you consider that sitting out a tough test could result in gaining ground on your competition, remember that you’d be forfeiting the potential of bonus points. That’s the best example to illustrate the extremes of the new format. Bonus points always will be at stake to reduce and eliminate deficits much faster than putting four rounds together used to be, and this is in direct response to the massive interest in final leaderboards. The navigation for constructing a roster reintroduces click-and-drag technology, but the overall experience is a little different than the most recent functionality. Most importantly, it’s intuitive. Over time, other bells and whistles, like roster comparisons, will fall into place from a visual and interactive standpoint. Emails have been distributed to everyone who was registered last season and since the platform launched in the last couple of days. Commissioners of leagues have been provided instruction for how to invite former league members who haven’t rejoined. The PGA TOUR Experts League returns. Anyone can participate in it because it’s a public league. It’s identified as “PGA TOUR Experts” and you’ll find it as the “FEATURED” league on the LEAGUES page. As noted in the link to Expert Picks below, my plan to swing around Ben at East Lake paid off, so I’m once again wearing the honor, er, target of being the defending champion. While it feels great, of course, it’s more of a sense of relief that I prevailed. After all, given what I (get to) do for a living, I better! One of the enhancements planned for the fantasy platform is for all of the lineups for those of us featured in Expert Picks will be made visible. This could be up and running in time for the Sanderson Farms Championship in two weeks. Of course, PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf is but one of the fantasy formats on the landscape. Loyal readers have an understanding of how I’ll advise on just about everything presented. It’s one of the reasons why I compile the full-membership fantasy ranking. Aside from last year, which is explained in the intro, it’s been a staple since I was hired in 2010. An apology is in order for confusion over the omission of Jimmy Walker, who you’ll find in Notable WDs below. He has one more season remaining on his multi-year exemption for winning the 2016 PGA Championship. The only reason why he’s not included in the full-membership ranking is human error. However, had I not overlooked him, he’d slot in the 175-200 range. Another relevant note not included in the intro is that, as of this moment, 26-year-old Si Woo Kim is not yet scheduled to fulfill his military conscription in his native South Korea. He must do so by the age of 28. The 2024 Olympics in Paris are scheduled when he’s 29, so it stands to reason that he won’t have another opportunity to win a medal and exempt out of the national obligation. Fellow South Korean, Sungjae Im, is only 23, so he’ll have another chance if he doesn’t register for his conscription first. All of that is to say that both are free to own in full-season formats this season. All of the staples that I update weekly also have turned over for the 2021-22 season. You’ll find Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Qualifiers and Rookie Ranking by navigating the FANTASY page or by using the MENU→Fantasy slide-out at the top. Should you want to connect with me personally, visit my Twitter page where you can use Direct Messaging if you wish. While it’s private, it’s also a better space because there’s no limitation on the length of text. RELATED: Power Rankings | PGATOUR.COM Expert Picks PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf My roster for the Fortinet Championship (in alphabetical order): Stephan Jaeger Taylor Moore Kevin Na Jon Rahm Harold Varner III Will Zalatoris You’ll find my starters in Expert Picks. POWER RANKINGS WILD CARD Cameron Champ (+4000) … This has all the makings to be the start of a special season for the 26-year-old. He sat out his title defense here last year to rest for the U.S. Open, but his recent uptick of form that included victory at the 3M Open inside two months ago is reason enough to get back on board. This includes in DFS. DRAWS Emiliano Grillo (+5000) … That he missed cuts in multiple shootouts over the summer is curious, but the 2015 Fortinet champ has fanned only once in six trips to Silverado. He ranked third on TOUR in GIR and T1 in proximity last season. Keep visiting his well. Harry Higgs Lee Hodges Marc Leishman Ryan Moore Doc Redman Justin Suh Odds sourced on Tuesday, September 14 at 5 a.m. ET. For live odds visit betmgm. FADES Brendan Steele (+10000) … Course-history buffs can’t take their eyes off the guy, but those who subscribe to recent bias are wary. The thing is, the new format for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf almost begs to play him. You don’t have as much to lose and a guy with as much as success as the two-time winner (2017, 2018) is worth the light risk. However, since Wells Fargo in May, he’s 4-for-8 with only one top-65 finish (T37, Memorial), so don’t go into this expecting to leave with a wheelbarrow of bonus points. Consider that a 36th-place finish yields two bonus points, which is the equivalent to one birdie. Joseph Bramlett (+8000) … Brings all the mojo as the winner of the KFT Championship, so again, it’s sensible why you’d want to bite, but the conservative in me prefers for him to prove it on this stage. After all, there was a reason he was back at the KFT Finals in the first place. If you want momentum without as much pressure, my Power Rankings and my fantasy roster is loaded with it. Dylan Frittelli Adam Hadwin Charles Howell III Patton Kizzire Matt Kuchar Phil Mickelson RETURNING TO COMPETITION J.B. Holmes (+25000) … Hasn’t played since exiting the John Deere Classic during the second round with an injured back. It bothered him at Muirfield Village a month before that and probably every time he gave it a go in between. It was a lost season in general but the 39-year-old remains fully exempt through 2021-22 via his victory at Riviera in 2019. In two tries at Silverado, he finished ninth in 2018 and T46 last year, but don’t let that persuade you into an investment this week. Kevin Chappell (+20000) … The NorCal native is making his ninth appearance in the tournament and his fifth at Silverado. He arrives with eight starts remaining on his Major Medical Extension and all but a lock to collect 128.577 FedExCup points and retain status for the remainder of the season. However, he hasn’t competed since pulling out of the Rocket Mortgage Classic with a sore back before the opening round on July 1. Proper only for fractional use in DFS this week. Chris Stroud (+50000) … Opened last season 0-for-3, and then shut it down in October due to a back injury. He hinted that a return over the summer may have been possible, but it’s better this way because he didn’t exhaust any starts in advance on a medical extension that he was granted. The 39-year-old has 19 starts to find the full boatload of 440.355 for the in-season promotion from the graduate reshuffle to the Major Medical category. Vaughn Taylor (+25000) … Battled a sore rib near the end of the season and settled at 149th in the FedExCup. So, he has conditional status. The better news is that he’s feeling well enough to return at Silverado where he’s 3-for-4 with a T14 in 2016. Depending on how much he wants to play, he could be a nice piece in weekly situations, but he needs to show us that he’s healthy. NOTABLE WDs Jimmy Walker … Someone has to be the first early withdrawal of the season, but it’s not often a former champion of the same event. OK, he was the last winner at CordeValle in 2013 and he hasn’t appeared at Silverado since his title defense the following year, so it’s not surprising. Hasn’t pegged it anywhere since a T11 at the 3M Open in late July. Fully exempt this season despite finishing well outside the top 125 in the FedExCup in each of the last three. POWER RANKINGS RECAP – TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP Power Ranking Golfer Result 1 Jon Rahm 2nd 2 Bryson DeChambeau 7th 3 Tony Finau T11 4 Justin Thomas 4th 5 Patrick Cantlay Win 6 Rory McIlroy T14 7 Dustin Johnson 8th 8 Xander Schauffele T5 9 Brooks Koepka WD 10 Jordan Spieth T20 11 Sungjae Im T20 12 Sam Burns T18 13 Abraham Ancer T9 14 Viktor Hovland T5 15 Scottie Scheffler T22 16 Corey Conners T22 17 Cameron Smith T14 18 Daniel Berger T11 19 Jason Kokrak T11 20 Louis Oosthuizen T14 21 Harris English T18 22 Sergio Garcia T14 23 Hideki Matsuyama T26 24 Collin Morikawa T26 25 Erik van Rooyen T22 26 Billy Horschel T9 27 Joaquin Niemann 29th 28 Stewart Cink T26 29 Kevin Na 3rd 30 Patrick Reed 25th POWER RANKINGS RECAP – FEDEXCUP PLAYOFFS Power Ranking Golfer Result 1 Jordan Spieth T20 2 Jon Rahm 2nd 3 Xander Schauffele T5 4 Dustin Johnson 8th 5 Brooks Koepka 30th 6 Patrick Cantlay 1st 7 Collin Morikawa T26 8 Daniel Berger T11 9 Patrick Reed 25th 10 Justin Thomas 4th 11 Scottie Scheffler T22 12 Harris English T18 13 Viktor Hovland T5 14 Cameron Smith T14 15 Hideki Matsuyama T26 16 Abraham Ancer T9 17 Bryson DeChambeau 7th 18 Paul Casey 52nd 19 Corey Conners T22 20 Rory McIlroy T14 21 Kevin Kisner 38th 22 Sam Burns T18 23 Jason Kokrak T11 24 Tony Finau T11 25 Joaquin Niemann 29th 26 Webb Simpson 40th 27 Russell Henley 56th 28 Louis Oosthuizen T14 29 Billy Horschel T9 30 Stewart Cink T26 BIRTHDAYS AMONG ACTIVE MEMBERS OF THE PGA TOUR September 14 … Tony Finau (32); Emiliano Grillo (29) September 15 … Kevin Na (38) September 16 … Bryson DeChambeau (28) September 17 … none September 18 … Viktor Hovland (24) September 19 … Ryan Palmer (45); Michael Gligic (32); Paul Barjon (29) September 20 … Chad Collins (43) Visit BetMGM.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ years of age or older to wager. 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PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Two playoffs. Two victories. Justin Thomas’ FedExCup defense is off to an impressive start after he won another title in extra holes. The Honda Classic was Thomas’ second win of the season and allowed the reigning FedExCup champion to take the lead in this season’s standings. He also won this season’s CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES in October, needing two extra holes to beat Marc Leishman in South Korea. Thomas needed just one this time. He hit 5-wood onto the green of PGA National’s 18th hole and two-putted for birdie to walk away with his eighth career victory. Luke List drove into the trees right of the fairway, laid up into the left rough and hit a wedge shot to 17 feet. He couldn’t convert the birdie putt, though. “It’s never easy. I would just say I’m becoming more comfortable,� Thomas said. “I embrace these situations. I love these situations. I love the opportunity to win. There’s a lot of great people I had to beat today. It was very difficult.� On a day when as many as four players shared the lead, Thomas and List finished regulation tied at 8-under 272. Thomas fired a final-round 68, while List, the 54-hole leader, was one shot higher Sunday. They played alongside each other in Sunday’s final group and both birdied 18 to force extra holes. In regulation, it was Thomas who had to lay up and List who reached the green in two shots. Thomas hit his 117-yard wedge shot a couple feet from the hole, while List two-putted for birdie. Thomas has now won seven of his past 31 TOUR starts (23 percent). He and Patton Kizzire are the only two multiple winners this season. With 1,258 FedExCup points, Thomas holds an 11-point advantage over Kizzire. No one has ever won back-to-back FedExCups; Tiger Woods (2007, ’09) is the only two-time winner. The CJ CUP and Honda Classic are the only two playoffs of Thomas’ career. He ended both with a birdie on a par-5 after going for the green in two. “They both had water around the green, hitting the fairway was pivotal, … and they both had a very similar wind direction in terms of hitting the shots into the greens,� Thomas said. “Both in Korea and here, I was confident enough in my game to where I could just kind of step up and hit a golf shot.� NOTABLES Rory McIlroy, the 2012 Honda Classic champion, maintained an unfortunate streak at PGA National. McIlroy shot four consecutive over-par rounds this week, finishing T59 at 9-over 289 (72-72-73-72). He’s now posted nine consecutive over-par rounds at PGA National, shooting 24 over in that stretch. Alex Noren once again flirted with his first PGA TOUR victory. The Swede, who lost a playoff to Jason Day at the Farmers Insurance Open, finished one shot out of the playoff. The third-place finish moved him to 19th in the FedExCup standings. Tiger Woods twice got within four shots of the lead Sunday, but his rally stalled both times. Woods finished at even-par 280 to finish 12th. He reached 3 under par after a birdie at the 14th hole, but hit his tee shot on the par-3 15th into the water to sink his chances. Click here to read more about his round. It hurts right now, but I think that when I look back on it I’ll be proud of the way I hung in there.Got crickets last night. I knew he had one thing in mind.It’s so much fun playing those nine holes. You’ve got so much adrenaline. I’m very nervous. But you just want to get that win. SUPERLATIVES Lowest round – Byeong-Hun An and Derek Fathauer both shot 5-under 65 on Sunday. An finished T5 to jump from 106th to 75th in the FedExCup. Fathauer leapt from 54th to 13th place after making birdies on four of his final five holes. He moved from 104th to 92nd in the FedExCup. Longest drive – Rory McIlroy cranked one 367 yards on the par-4 second hole. He hit his 100-yard approach shot to 6 feet but missed the birdie putt. Longest putt – Martin Piller holed a birdie putt of 59 feet, 9 inches on the par-3 seventh hole. He shot 32 on the front nine Sunday, but fired 40 on the back nine to finish 67th. Hardest hole – The 466-yard, par-4 sixth hole played to a 4.37 scoring average. There were as many birdies (8) as double-bogeys in the final round. There was one triple-bogey, as well. Easiest hole – The 547-yard, par-5 18th played to a 4.57 scoring average Sunday. There were two eagles and 34 birdies on the hole. Bogey free-rounds – Michael Thompson and Sam Burns both shot bogey-free 68s Sunday. Thompson finished T24, while Burns, a 22-year-old Web.com Tour rookie, finished T8 to earn a spot in the Valspar Championship.

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“Official Virtual Reality Golf Game of the PGA TOUR” to integrate PGA TOUR tournament courses into GOLF+ beginning with TPC Scottsdale and TPC Sawgrass early in 2023 PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The PGA TOUR and GOLF+, the leading VR golf game in the world, today announced a long-term deal that makes GOLF+ the “Official Virtual Reality Golf Game of the PGA TOUR.” The agreement will also see the creation of new PGA TOUR game experiences where GOLF+ players will be able to experience exclusive, interactive content and features tied to real-world PGA TOUR tournaments. Using a Meta Quest VR headset, GOLF+ users will be able to compete on select TPC Network golf courses and other PGA TOUR tournament courses beginning with TPC Scottsdale and TPC Sawgrass early in 2023. These in- game PGA TOUR experiences will offer players exclusive tournament competition within the game. Additional tournament courses will be added in the coming years to join the GOLF+ roster of world-class venues. “The PGA TOUR is excited to work with GOLF+, the leading golf game in the emerging VR gaming market,” said Len Brown, PGA TOUR Chief Legal Officer, and EVP, Licensing. “The GOLF+ VR platform is a forward-thinking way to enjoy the sport that is appealing to gamers and golfers of all levels, and an innovative way for people to play the game of golf and grow the sport globally. The TOUR will support the partnership with new courses, ShotLink powered by CDW data, shot trails and video highlights from PGA TOUR competitions.” GOLF+ will have rights to use PGA TOUR marks, rights to advertise within TOUR media and TOUR partner platforms, plus content and video rights allowing GOLF+ to create unique, in-game experiences. “We look forward to working with the PGA TOUR as it provides the ability to present unparalleled interactive tournament experiences to our players in VR,” said Ryan Engle, Co-Founder and CEO of GOLF+. “We are both committed to using innovative technology and interactive experiences to reach new golfers worldwide and grow the game we love.” Golfers and other athletes who have joined GOLF+ as investors include Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, World Golf Hall of Famer Ben Crenshaw, Tom Brady, Steph Curry and Mike Trout. “Beyond providing one of the best VR sports experiences in the world, GOLF+ will now offer a new way for fans to enjoy the excitement of the PGA TOUR,” said Rory McIlroy. “This technology has the power to not only bring new people to the game of golf, but also evolve the way the PGA TOUR is seen and experienced by golfers and gamers everywhere.” “When I was a kid, I always dreamed of making it to the PGA TOUR and testing my game inside the ropes against the best players in the world,” added Jordan Spieth. “It’s great that fans and future TOUR pros are going to be able to use this platform to get a taste for what it’s like to compete on the PGA TOUR.” Designed to be complementary to traditional golf, the GOLF+ VR experience removes typical barriers such as time constraints, greens fees and weather to allow users to play anywhere, anytime. For those who have never picked up a club in the real world, it offers a stress-free way to learn, play and practice at their own pace. Avid golfers can enjoy realistic physics and life-like recreations of some of the most iconic courses in the world. In less than a year since launch, the platform’s hundreds of thousands of golfers have played over six million rounds on the platform. GOLF+ is currently available on the Meta Quest 2 platform for $29.99. The game comes standard with original course designs, Topgolf, and a mini golf experience called Pro Putt. Players can add the famed Pebble Beach, Pinehurst No.2, The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island and Wolf Creek Golf Club as in-app purchases. GOLF+ allows for both single-player and multiplayer options, making it ideal for solo practice or a social round.

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