Tiger finishes strong at Farmers Insurance Open

Is that the new car smell? Those in the Motor City of Detroit sure know the new car scent better than most. Close, it’s the aroma of a new stop on the PGA TOUR. Please join us in welcoming to the family the Rocket Mortgage Classic at the Detroit Golf Club, the first TOUR event inside the city limits of Detroit. This Donald Ross gem will light up all the senses of players and fans alike. Tricky treelined holes followed by invitations to score on the back nine. Volatility on the scoreboard … that always excites. THE FLYOVER The back nine at Detroit Golf Club brings with it multiple chances to score. One such hole is the 555-yard par-5 14th. This is a classic risk-reward par 5 from Donald Ross. The long hitters will only have a mid-to-long iron approach shot into this two-tiered green guarded by water in front. Those who elect to lay up on their second will need to control the spin on their shots due to a false front on the left side of the green. The brave will make a move here. WEATHER CHECK From meteorologist Kyle Koval: A stalled out frontal boundary is expected to serve as the focus for showers / thunderstorms Thursday through Saturday. The most favorable window for activity appears to be Thursday night and Friday. Most likely weekly rainfall 0.25-0.75 of an inch, however higher amounts are possible if an organized thunderstorm complex can develop. Temperatures will generally be in the middle 80s each day with some cooling likely on Sunday. Wind gusts around 20 mph are possible Friday and Saturday. For the latest weather news from Detroit, Michigan, check out PGATOUR.com’s weather hub. SOUND CHECK It’s an old Donald Ross course that’s a lot of fun to play. It’s not real long, but the greens are very challenging. It’s a lot of slope, a lot of different locations on the green. It’s all little quadrants and you want to be in the right quadrant. We’re going to have a good many wedges, so being able to control the spin, it’s going to be difficult to get it close to the hole. BY THE NUMBERS 8 – Just eight events (over six weeks) remain in the FedExCup regular season as players vie for a spot in the FedExCup Playoffs. They need to be inside the top 125 on the points list to do so. Martin Laird currently sits in the 125th spot. He is in the field this week, as are those ranked 126-132. At the pointy end players are vying for position in the Wyndham Rewards Top 10. Those inside that mark after the last eight events share significant bonus cash. Woodland (5th), Johnson (7th) and Fowler (10th) all have the chance to push deeper into the reward zone this week. Last week’s winner Chez Reavie (12th) is just a half decent result away from jumping into the top 10. 3 – Number of former head pros at Detroit Golf Club who had won majors. Alec Ross, brother of course designer Donald, won the U.S. Open before serving at the club. Two-time Masters winner Horton Smith (1934, 36) then took over before 1953 PGA Championship winner Walter Burkemo took the job. 32’ 9â€� – The average proximity to the hole for Corey Conners, who leads the PGA TOUR in the stat this season. Proximity could be vital this week. Detroit Golf Club’s greens can be very tricky if you find yourself in the wrong section. Others inside the top 10 on TOUR who are in the field this week are Ryan Armour, Chesson Hadley, Chez Reavie, Vaughn Taylor, Jason Dufner and Talor Gooch. SCATTERSHOTS Local talent… Michigan native Joey Garber is looking for a big week. The 27-year-old from Petoskey, Michigan made the cut at the 2007 Michigan Open as a 15-year-old, the youngest player in history to do so in the state’s most prestigious golf tournament. In 2010, Garber won both the Michigan Amateur and the Michigan Junior Amateur titles, the first player ever to win both state amateur titles in the same year. He played 2018 on the Korn Ferry Tour (formerly Web.com Tour) and won the Rex Hospital Open to earn maiden PGA TOUR card. This season has made seven cuts in 16 starts on the PGA TOUR with one top-10 finish at the Puerto Rico Open to sit 183rd in the FedExCup. He needs to secure a spot in the top 200 to make the Korn Ferry Tour Finals or surge into the top 125 to make the FedExCup Playoffs. Popular Invite… Non-member Chip McDaniel – aka “Mr. Mondayâ€� – was awarded a sponsor invite. McDaniel has successfully Monday qualified three times this season, the latest came last week at the Travelers Championship after catching a red-eye after the final round of the U.S. Open. He finished T43 at TPC River Highlands. McDaniel’s real name is Tyler but has always been known as Chip as his mother’s favorite baseball player was former Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones. Portrush awaits… The Rocket Mortgage Classic is part of The Open Qualifying Series. The top two players not otherwise exempt who finish inside the top eight and ties will receive invitations to the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush. It is the second last chance on the PGA TOUR to qualify. The John Deere Classic (July 11-14) is the only other remaining PGA TOUR event that is part of the series, where one spot is up for grabs.

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The PGA TOUR finishes its time in Asia with the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions at Sheshan International Golf Club (West) in Shanghai, China. The field will consist of 78 golfers from the PGA TOUR as well as six Chinese players teeing it up for the first of four World Golf Championships tournaments this season. Similar to the other two tournaments on the Asian Swing, this will be a no-cut event. RELATED: Power Rankings | Course, field preview: WGC-HSBC Champions Sheshan International will play as a par 72, measures 7,261 yards and be played on bentgrass greens for the third straight week. This tournament has been played at Sheshan International in 13 of the last 14 seasons and all but two of the last 13 winners have been outside the top 30 in overall world golf ranking at the time of their win (exceptions: Y.E. Yang 77th/2006, Russell Knox 85/2015). The course is fairly straight forward with tree-lined fairways, which will be average in width, but where the course gets difficult is when the golfers miss the fairway and hit it in one of the many fairway bunkers or in one of the many water hazards that come into play on 11 holes. In the last three years, the course has played inside the top-half of difficulty in scoring relative to par with last season playing as the third most difficult; this is evident with both fairways hit in regulation and greens hit in regulation percentage registering lower at Sheshan International relative to the TOUR average. Par 5 scoring average will again be important this week with three of the four playing over 550 yards. Golfers who also do well on par 3 scoring average from 200 to 225 yards should be considered when building lineups, all four of the par-3s measure over 200 yards. Strokes Gained: Off-The-Tee will be paramount with accuracy as a priority; hitting it in the rough or in any of the many fairway bunkers may be penal this week. TOP VALUES Rory McIlroy ($11, 700) McIlroy’s Off-The-Tee game is second-to-none. In his last six tournaments, he’s gained almost a stroke on the field in hit fairway percentage and ranks first in Strokes Gained: Off-The-Tee over the same timeframe. Even though Rory finished outside the top 50 last season at Sheshan International, he ranks just outside the top-10 in Strokes Gained: Total at this tournament the last five years. Tony Finau ($9,700) Finau struggled in Japan, but now gets to play a tournament he’s had success at, finishing 11th back in 2017 and second last season. Like Rory, Finau’s Off-The-Tee ability is elite, ranking fifth in Strokes Gained: Off-The-Tee over his last six tournaments; it’s not only his distance, but he’s also been hitting the fairway this season, ranking T11 in fairway hit percentage and 30th in hit fairways gained over the field in his last 24 rounds. Finau also putts better on bentgrass greens, ranking just outside the top-30 in Strokes Gained: Putting over his last 36 rounds. Patrick Reed ($9,600) Reed isn’t on the same level as Finau or McIlroy with his driver but still ranks inside the top-10 in Strokes Gained: Off-The-Tee over his last six tournaments and has the short game to contend at this course. Reed ranks inside the top-30 in par 5 scoring average and eighth in sand save percentage over his last 24 rounds along with two top-10 finishes here dating back to 2016. Kevin Kisner ($7,200) There’s no metric for “narrative-street� analysis, but Kisner may take a page out of Tiger’s book last week and go for the win this week in Shanghai to enhance his chances at getting a Presidents Cup captain’s pick from Woods. We’re not just relying on the metaphoric analysis with Kisner, he also has solid current form, ranking ninth in Strokes Gained: Approach-The-Green and sixth in par 3 scoring average from 200-225 yards in distance. He’s a great putter on bentgrass and has a second place finish here back in 2016. J.T. Poston ($6,700) Poston had a good end to his season, making it to the BMW Championship with a T16 finish and followed it up with a Top-11 in his first start of the new season at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Poston also recorded a top-30 last week in Japan. His solid finishes have a lot to do with his ball-striking, gaining 3.3 strokes Tee-to-Green over his last five tournaments. Poston ranks inside the top-15 in par 3 scoring average from 200 to 225 yards, 11th in birdie or better percentage, 16th in Strokes Gained: Approach-The-Green and 23rd in par-5 scoring average over his last six tournaments. Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game. About the writer: “I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is reidtfowler) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.�

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH - PGA TOUR officials have made the biggest adjustment to the drivable 12th hole at TPC Sawgrass since its complete renovation in 2017, setting a plan to play it both long and short at the 2021 PLAYERS Championship. The short 302-yard par-4 was renovated in 2017 from Pete Dye's original design, creating a risk-reward drivable scenario with water flanking the left side of the green and a sand hazard doing the same in the layup zone. A back tee was retained to mirror the length of the longer original hole but to date hadn't been utilized at THE PLAYERS. In the three full THE PLAYERS Championships prior to this year's 2021 edition, the hole played anywhere between 281 and 317 yards but now it is set to top out around 369 yards. The back tee was in play in Tuesday's practice round at TPC Sawgrass at 364 yards. In 2019 the hole played to a scoring average of 3.533 - the easiest hole on the course. It also played under par in 2018 (3.621, fourth-easiest hole) and 2017 (3.827, fourth-easiest hole). Officials have made the change to preserve Pete Dye's initial design thoughts and to help facilitate a swifter pace of play over the opening rounds given the 154-man field size. Dye originally designed both sides of TPC Sawgrass to start in a similar fashion as he recognized tournament play often starts off the first and 10th holes. Now both sides have two similar length par 4s, a par 3 and a par 5 over the first four holes. Fans can expect the drama of the shorter tee on No. 12 to ramp back up again over the weekend rounds once the cut to the top 65 players and ties is made. "What triggered this more than anything was the increased field size and the move to March which brings the north wind into play," PGA TOUR Rules Official Stephen Cox explained. "The more we looked into it the more we felt this year is a good year to trial it and get player feedback. If you do get that north wind then the 11th hole tends to be reachable downwind and then you turn around for a drivable par 4 which often doesn't aid pace of play from a flow perspective. "This year, more than any, pace of play will be a focus for us given the increase in field size. The final piece to this was the strategic element in starting rounds one and two. It's a similar start across the two nines now, much like Pete Dye intended." TOUR driving distance leader Bryson DeChambeau, who won at Bay Hill last week, would be one of just a few players who can consider the maxed-out length still legitimately drivable. While he hadn't been out to test the new spot when asked, he said he'd likely still be going after the green. "Wow, that’s cool. If they want to do that, that’s great. Hopefully the length should still be an advantage," DeChambeau said. "If it’s downwind, yeah, I’m sure I will (go for it). Even if I can hit it up next to the green and chip it on." DeChambeau prefers the hole in its shorter format - where he says he can reach with a 5-wood - as while he may now be one of a few who can reach, the risk has been taken away from a large portion of the field. "Putting it all the way back there is going to take a lot of people out of the equation from trying to drive it," DeChambeau said. "And it may make the hole easier for some people because then they aren’t going for it and taking that risk-reward on and making a mistake. Now they’re hitting 3-wood or whatever down the right center and then hitting a wedge on the green and making birdie one or two days, where they would be going for it every single day and maybe they make a mistake." Having been uncomfortable on the hole in the past, former FedExCup champion Justin Thomas says laying up doesn't make things all that much easier. "It’s not a comfortable yardage or shot shape for me, but that being said, I’ve made plenty of birdies," Thomas said. "If you lay it up, it’s extremely narrow and then you’ve got a green that all falls away from you or some tough pins, so you just have to commit to whatever you’re doing is what I’ve learned on that hole." Defending PLAYERS champion Rory McIlroy expects he will also still swing away for the fences even if the green isn't his target. "You’ve almost got a bigger area to hit into when you’re going for the green than you do when you’re laying up. I think that’s the hard thing. I’ve always found that lay-up more difficult than actually going for the green," McIlroy said. "If you can cover that long bunker that runs up the left side you’ve got quite a wide landing area to hit into there. I think you’re still going to see a lot of guys hitting driver from that back tee."

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