‘This is crazy.’ Inside Alex Ross’ head on the day he shot 57

This isn’t your typical Tuesday. It’s Tuesday of the TOUR Championship, which means that this is the last Fantasy Insider of the 2020-21 season. And because the Power Rankings included all 30 qualifiers – Patrick Reed is going to play (see Returning to Competition below) – this Fantasy Insider is abridged. It allows us to narrow the focus on the task at hand. RELATED: Power Rankings | PGATOUR.COM Expert Picks Generally speaking, whenever something new is introduced, there’s going to be confusion about how it works. Starting Strokes to determine opening position for the 30 golfers at East Lake is in its third year, but if you’re a new gamer in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, bonus points will be based on final leaderboard finish to which Starting Strokes contributes. Also, because FedExCup points are not awarded at the TOUR Championship, for the second consecutive year, PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf manually will assign bonus points worth the customary one-tenth the value of the FedExCup points in the structure of the first two Playoffs events. For an extreme example for both factors, let’s say that Reed, who opens at even par, bests the field with 15-under 265 but finishes alone in fifth place. Only his leaderboard finish will determine his bonus points. In the first two events of the Playoffs, fifth place rewards 440 FedExCup points, so Reed would be credited with 44 bonus points. Last year, Dustin Johnson’s 72-hole aggregate of 11-under 269 tied for third-lowest score, but because he opened as the top seed with a Starting Strokes value of 10-under, he won the TOUR Championship at 21-under and was credited with 200 bonus points in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf (because each of the winners of the first two Playoffs events receives 2,000 FedExCup points). Shifting gears, between now and the Fortinet Championship in two weeks (thus 14 days of birthdays at the bottom), I will be turning over and creating quite a bit of new content for the Fantasy page, so please continue to monitor it and my Twitter if you already don’t. For starters, and as I’ve felt good about repeating in recent weeks since I first broke the news in late April, my full-membership fantasy ranking will publish in early September. The exact date is undetermined as of this moment, but it will be splashed on the Fantasy page and my Twitter when it’s ready. Qualifiers, the Korn Ferry Tour Graduate Reshuffle and Medical Extensions also will be updated soon after the conclusions of the TOUR Championship and KFT Finals. Likewise, exact dates are TBD, and they likely will publish at their own paces. After a season of attending to what were only three rookies and a bevy of non-members who haven’t exhausted rookie eligibility in a previous season in Rookie Watch, I’m as happy as you are that Rookie Ranking will be returning as originally dubbed. Through the second of the three events in the KFT Finals, the class is assured of being at least 23 deep. Because of positive feedback to the pivot to Rookie Watch in 2020-21, I’m keeping the option open to add a section devoted to non-members for 2021-22. Last but hardly least, the new version of PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf that I teased in this space during the week of the Olympics will be launching at the Fortinet. At some point, perhaps in the opening of the FI for the Fortinet, I will be reviewing the basics of game play, strategy and whatever else is relevant to your success. To that end, I’m going to be experiencing the new version in a testing environment for the TOUR Championship. I’ve been briefed on what I should expect, so I’m excited about learning the format and how scoring influences ownership philosophy. Gang, there’s so much that goes into a transformation like this and so little time to prep for it in earnest, and at one of the busiest times of the year to boot, but I’m impressed at how it’s come together. Anyone who knows me even a little bit knows that I have high expectations, and often to a fault, especially as it concerns all matters related to the PGA TOUR, so it just feels good to be as curious as I am about this new offering. Until the next time you read and/or engage with me, thank you so very much for your loyalty to all things fantasy and my work throughout the season and, for many of you, over the years. I feel as fortunate to be a part of this community today as I did the first day in early January of 2010, and you’re responsible for that. Peace and love… PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf My roster for the TOUR Championship (in alphabetical order): Patrick Cantlay Bryson DeChambeau Tony Finau Dustin Johnson Jon Rahm Justin Thomas You’ll find my starters in Expert Picks. Others to consider for each category (in alphabetical order): Scoring: Sam Burns; Harris English; Rory McIlroy; Xander Schauffele; Scottie Scheffler; Cameron Smith; Jordan Spieth Driving: Corey Conners; Harris English; Sergio Garcia; Viktor Hovland; Sungjae Im; Scottie Scheffler RETURNING TO COMPETITION Patrick Reed … After battling an ankle injury and overcoming a bout with double pneumonia, he’s committed to returning to competition at East Lake. He’s the 30-seed and opens at even par, which means that he has nothing to lose, but the general curiosity concerns his stamina. Even in this tiny field with no cut, he doesn’t present emphatically as an option. NOTABLE WDs n/a POWER RANKINGS RECAP – BMW CHAMPIONSHIP Power Ranking Golfer Result 1 Jon Rahm T9 2 Justin Thomas T22 3 Patrick Cantlay Win 4 Xander Schauffele T49 5 Collin Morikawa T63 6 Tony Finau T15 7 Corey Conners T22 8 Cameron Smith T34 9 Sungjae Im 3rd 10 Harris English T26 11 Bryson DeChambeau P2 12 Dustin Johnson T6 13 Sam Burns 8th 14 Brooks Koepka T22 15 Daniel Berger T26 16 Shane Lowry T26 17 Viktor Hovland T17 18 Scottie Scheffler T22 19 Webb Simpson T12 20 Keegan Bradley T60 Wild Card Rory McIlroy 4th SLEEPERS RECAP – BMW CHAMPIONSHIP Golfer (BetMGM prop) Result Cameron Champ (Top 10) T66 Cam Davis (Top 20) T29 Lucas Glover (Top 20) T38 Cameron Tringale (Top 20) T52 Aaron Wise (Top 20) T17 BIRTHDAYS AMONG ACTIVE MEMBERS OF THE PGA TOUR August 31 … Padraig Harrington (50); Charl Schwartzel (37) September 1 … Matt Fitzpatrick (27) September 2 … none September 3 … none September 4 … none September 5 … none September 6 … Brice Garnett (38) September 7 … none September 8 … none September 9 … Hudson Swafford (34) September 10 … none September 11 … Satoshi Kodaira (32) September 12 … none September 13 … none Visit BetMGM.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ years of age or older to wager. 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2022 Bermuda Championship, Round 2 Top 10 win probabilities: 1. Taylor Pendrith (1, -11, 27.5%) 2. Patrick Rodgers (2, -10, 17.5%) 3. Vincent Whaley (3, -9, 9.4%) 4. Danny Lee (T4, -8, 4.5%) 5. David Skinns (T4, -8, 3.7%) 6. Lucas Herbert (T6, -7, 3.5%) 7. Chad Ramey (T10, -6, 2.8%) 8. Alex Smalley (T10, -6, 2.4%) 9. Justin Lower (T6, -7, 2.4%) 10. Peter Malnati (T6, -7, 2.3%) NOTE: These reports are based off of the live predictive model run by @DataGolf. The model provides live “Make Cut”, “Top 20”, “Top 5”, and “Win” probabilities every 5 minutes from the opening tee shot to the final putt of every PGA TOUR event. Briefly, the model takes account of the current form of each golfer as well as the difficulty of their remaining holes, and probabilities are calculated from 20K simulations. To follow live finish probabilities throughout the remainder of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, or to see how each golfer’s probabilities have evolved from the start of the event to the current time, click here for the model’s home page.

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