Tiger no longer one with the chaos

Hideki Matsuyama returns to TPC Scottsdale in quest of the PGA TOUR’s first three-peat in seven seasons, though he’ll have to rise above a lineup that includes reigning FedExCup champion Justin Thomas, current leader Patton Kizzire and Jordan Spieth. Three-time Phoenix Open champion Phil Mickelson is also back for his 29th appearance, breaking a tie with Gene Littler for most starts. The local faction also now includes Jon Rahm, another former Arizona State star now No.2 in the world after winning the CareerBuilder Challenge. FULL FIELD: Click here to see who’s playing FIELD NOTES: Rickie Fowler, who Matsuyama dispatched in four playoff holes two years ago, gives the field five of the current top seven players in the world rankings. … In all, 10 of the world’s top 25 are set for TPC Scottsdale, as well as 18 of the top 25 in the FedExCup standings. … Steve Stricker tees it up for his first PGA TOUR start since last year’s FedExCup playoff opener. He captained the U.S. Presidents Cup squad to victory last September, and teamed with Sean O’Hair to win last month’s QBE Shootout. … Julian Suri, a Florida native who won twice in Europe last year, will tee it up on a sponsor invite for the second consecutive week. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 points. STORYLINES: Matsuyama seeks to become the first to go back-to-back-to-back at the same venue since Stricker won three straight John Deere Classics from 2009-11. Matsuyama’s first two came in playoffs; no one (at least since World War II) has swept three straight via extra holes. … Matsuyama has finished no worse than fourth in four visits to Phoenix. … Webb Simpson, last year’s playoff runner-up, owns six consecutive top-15 finishes at TPC Scottsdale going back to 2011. … Mickelson, whose history in Phoenix dates to 1989, tries once again to become its first four-time winner. Littler, Arnold Palmer and Mark Calcavecchia also have won three in Phoenix. … Last year’s TPC Scottsdale crowds of 655,434 again easily surpassed the Arizona Cardinals’ 2017 home attendance (513,741) – along with every other NFL team except the Dallas Cowboys. COURSE: TPC Scottsdale (Stadium), 7,261 yards, par 71. The most populous – and most raucous – venue on the PGA TOUR brings more than half a million spectators to the Scottsdale foothills over the course of a week. Some 20,000 each day pack the “Coliseumâ€� that rings the par-3 16th, an atmosphere that raises the adrenaline for anyone on the tee. Tiger Woods aced No.16 in his first Phoenix Open in 1997, one of just nine recorded at the hole. That doesn’t count the robot that turned the trick at the 2016 pro-am, drawing yet another beer shower. Andrew Magee made history in 2001 by holing his tee shot at No.17 – still the only TOUR ace on a par-4. The Tom Weiskopf/Jay Morrish design got $12 million in upgrades four summers ago. • 72-HOLE RECORD: 256, Mark Calcavecchia (2001), Phil Mickelson (2013). • 18-HOLE RECORD: 60, Grant Waite (4th round, 1996), Mark Calcavecchia (2nd round, 2001), Phil Mickelson (2nd round, 2005, and 1st round, 2013). LAST YEAR: Matsuyama won in a playoff for the second-straight year, another four-hole overtime in which he dispatched Webb Simpson with a 10-foot birdie. Simpson forced the playoff with three birdies in his last four holes to post a 7-under-par 64, while Matsuyama’s birdie attempt to win in regulation stopped just short. They matched pars for the first three extra holes, before Simpson found the green at the drivable par-4 17th – with a bunker in the way of an eagle putt. A lag putt could get no closer than 25 feet, and a birdie try burned the edge. It was Matsuyama’s second win of the season and fifth worldwide in a 3 ½-month span that included the WGC-HSBC Champions. His fourth PGA TOUR win also broke a tie with Shigeki Maruyama for most by a Japanese pro. HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 3-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 2-3:45 p.m. (GC), 4-7 p.m. (CBS). Sunday, 1-2:45 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 9:15 a.m.-3 p.m. (featured groups), 3-7 p.m. (featured holes). Saturday, 11:30 a.m.-7 p.m. (featured holes). Sunday, 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m. (featured holes). RADIO: Thursday-Friday, 1-7 p.m. Saturday, 2-7 p.m. Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).

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NOTE: For three events, Rob is focusing only on golfers needing a good performance to advance in the FedExCup Playoffs. In this final edition, all five below enter the BMW Championship outside the top 30 in points. Scenarios for all golfers to advance will be published later this week. Shane Lowry (+125 for a Top 20) … He didn’t come this far not to go any farther. Sure, you could say the same thing about everyone in the field at the BMW Championship, but few have been as consistently strong as the 35-year-old throughout 2022. With a trio of podium finishes leading the way, including his solo second in the ill-timed rain at the finish line of The Honda Classic, he’s 37th in the FedExCup. If there’s any cosmic balance in the golf world, it’ll be his turn to climb into the top 30, just as FedEx St. Jude Championship playoff victim (and Honda champion) Sepp Straka did on Sunday. Entering the week, Lowry was 28th, but Straka has since climbed from 35th to eighth. And you can bet that the Irishman will have an umbrella at the ready with rain in the forecast in Wilmington on the weekend. Aaron Wise (+110 for a Top 20) … Of all of the guys outside the top 30 in the FedExCup upon arrival, his position is most envious. That’s because he’s 31st after a T31 at TPC Southwind. Like others, he’s long and accurate from tee to green, but that’s exactly the formula for success on Wilmington Country Club’s South Course this week. It was just a couple of months ago when he challenged for a solo second at Muirfield Village, another stretched-out track with bentgrass greens. Denny McCarthy (+275 for a Top 20) … This bet is a gimme, right? In his last seven starts, he’s recorded three top 10s, one T20 and missed three cuts. With no cut at the BMW Championship, he’s a lock for a top 20! Of course, if it worked that way, there wouldn’t be any risk, but investors in his starts haven’t felt much of that with him for most of the season, anyway. Currently 35th in the FedExCup and on the pantheon of the best putters on the PGA TOUR. K.H. Lee … If he wasn’t as high as his current position of 33rd in the FedExCup, he probably wouldn’t have landed in the final edition of Sleepers for the 2021-22 season. (Promotional note: The Power Rankings for the TOUR Championship always is a full-field version.) Since defending his breakthrough victory at the 2021 AT&T Byron Nelson with another title three months ago, he’s 6-for-9 but with just two top 35s. Both are top 20s, including a T20 last week at TPC Southwind where he was perfect on 60 looks from eight feet and in, nine of which were from outside three feet. The moral of the matter is that he has the firepower to deliver on value that you’ll find on the boards. Emiliano Grillo … When the regular season was entering its last six weeks, he was just inside the top 150 of the FedExCup and devoid a top-15 finish since The Open Championship in 2021. But then, in a four-week span bridging the 2022 Open, the 29-year-old from Argentina hung up a pair of runner-up finishes to secure his seventh Playoffs appearance in as many tries. Now, at 55th in points, it’s going to require another sparkling performance to advance to the TOUR Championship for the first time since he was the Rookie of the Year in 2015-16. With his tee-to-green precision on a course with unfamiliar greens, his skill set is poised to fulfill the objective. Incidentally, the last time a golfer outside the top 45 in the FedExCup at the BMW Championship qualified for the finale in any iteration of the points structure was Keegan Bradley in 2018. He did it with a victory. The last to turn the trick without a win was Robert Castro in 2016. He placed third at the BMW to jump from 53rd to 21st. Odds were sourced on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022. For live odds, visit BetMGM.

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Henrik Stenson, who at 45 has played in five Ryder Cups, was selected by European captain Padraig Harrington as the fifth and final vice captain.

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