Tiger Woods says he was worn out mentally, physically and emotionally after such a demanding year full of golf.
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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.�
DUBLIN, Ohio – He’s won this tournament five times, and now he’s playing for the first time since 2015. Tiger Woods is back; cue the highlight reel. “A nice run since I turned pro,� Woods said when he won the most recent of those five titles at Muirfield Village, in 2012, to tie tournament host Jack Nicklaus with his 73rd career PGA TOUR victory. Woods is on a nice run this year, too, having gone from 656th to 83rd in the Official World Golf Ranking. “I obviously haven’t played in a few years, and a lot of great memories here,� Woods said in his press conference here Wednesday. “I’ve always enjoyed playing Jack’s place, and this year is no different. It’s in perfect shape. Hopefully the rain holds out a little bit, because this golf course is going to be tough. It’s fun.� Players have been commenting on the thicker rough this week at Muirfield Village, where the tournament will honor two-time Memorial champion Hale Irwin, plus golf writer Larry Dorman, whose career included a long stretch at The New York Times. There’s also a new ticket option this year called The Millenial Ticket, which is $60 for a one-day grounds pass, which includes two tokens for Memorial’s 19th Hole and participating Bridge Park establishments, as well as free parking and shuttle service from Bridge Park to the tournament. The biggest news-maker this year, though, is the return of Woods. Although he came from four behind in his last two wins at Muirfield Village, he has won every which way there. The Nicklaus/Desmond Muirhead suits him to a T(W), and would seem a likely venue for him to break a winless streak that goes all the way back to the 2013 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. “I’ve been on runs where it just came pretty easy, getting Ws,� Woods said. “And other stretches where it was very difficult. This is, to me this is a little bit different because I’m coming back off of not really playing for a while.� Indeed, much of the 79-time TOUR winner’s drought goes back to injuries, particularly back injuries. But after career-threatening fusion surgery last year he’s finally healthy again, and you can’t argue with the results. Last we saw him in action, Woods was going 65-69 on the weekend at THE PLAYERS Championship, part of an electrifying week that saw him finish T11 but also wonder aloud what might have been. Showing flashes of the man who won THE PLAYERS in 2001 and 2013, Woods made six birdies in his first 13 holes to get within four of eventual winner Webb Simpson. Alas, Woods went 3 over the rest of the way. He now has a runner-up finish (Valspar Championship), a T5 (Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard), a T11 (PLAYERS), and a 12th (The Honda Classic). He has 548 FedExCup points (54th), with a 69.988 scoring average. Woods is knocking on the door; is this the week he picks up his elusive 80th win? “I remember the feelings when I was at Valspar,� he said. “… It really felt comfortable. The last few times that I’ve had a chance, I’ve been up there on the board, I’ve felt very comfortable. Hopefully I can just shoot the low round when I need it.� Tournament host Nicklaus said earlier this week that he may simply have to remember how to win again, and that Muirfield Village could be the perfect place to bring back all those good feelings. “I think that if Tiger can just play reasonably well tee to green, with his short game, he will be in contention,� Nicklaus said. Woods, who is seventh in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green this season, got an early start Wednesday, hitting balls at 6:30 a.m. in anticipation of his 7 o’clock pro-am time with, among others, former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning. After a three-years hiatus, the 7,392-yard, par-72 course looked a little different for the five-time Memorial winner. “I believe there’s over 500 trees that are gone since the last time I played it,� Woods said. “They added 500 yards to it. So it’s quite significant.� Three Players to Ponder Matt Kuchar Certain things in life are a given, and one is that Kuchar thrives at the Memorial. He won the tournament in 2013, and is coming off back-to-back T4 finishes at Jack’s place. Rickie Fowler Finished T2 last year, and solo second after a final-round 73 in first Memorial appearance in 2010. Played with winner Woods in the final round in 2012, but shot 84. Anirban Lahiri Final-round 65 and T2 finish last year kick-started his season, highlighted by memorable performance for Nick Price’s International Presidents Cup Team. The Flyover The 529-yard, par-5 15th hole bisects a virtual forest full of trees, and rewards accuracy off the tee. Jason Dufner hit the fairway all four days and birdied the hole all four days last year. Simple, right? Well, not exactly. There are also some disasters lurking on 15; although 42 percent of the field there made birdie, 2 percent of the field made double-bogey or worse. The key is to crest the hill with your drive, from where you can have a crack at reaching the green in two. Left or right misses will be punished, as overhanging trees await, and the green is protected by a steep bank in front and deep bunkers left and right. There’s also a meandering creek that cuts across the fairway and will catch any miss-hit second shots. The hole played to a 4.664 stroke average last year. Weather Check From PGA TOUR meteorologist Stewart Williams: “Tropical moisture will combine with upper level disturbances to keep the chance for showers and t-storms in the forecast Thursday. An approaching cold front will provide another round of showers and t-storms again on Friday before conditions finally settle down Friday night. Cooler and less humid conditions return for the weekend. Partly cloudy skies can be expected each day with highs in the upper 70’s and lows in the 50’s.� For the latest weather news from Dublin, Ohio check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. Sound Check I think I’ve had three of the top five weeks of my career, putting-wise, have been here at the Memorial.First two days were extraordinary, probably some of the best golf I’ve played in my career. Saturday was pretty forgettable. By the Numbers 5 – Number of two-time winners on TOUR so far this year after 2010 Memorial Tournament champion Justin Rose won the Fort Worth Invitational last weekend. Jason Day, Patton Kizzire, Justin Thomas and Bubba Watson are the others. 4.240 – Average score at 484-yard, par-4 18th hole from 1976 to 2017, when it ranked the toughest at Muirfield Village. It was second toughest (4.279) last year. +10.682 – Strokes gained: approach-the-green by winner Dufner last year. Scattershots Cleveland-born Dufner was the first and only Ohioan to win the Memorial since Jack Nicklaus in 1984. Dufner said he wasn’t even sure he liked Muirfield Village until he played in the 2013 Presidents Cup and realized he liked it very much. No winner on the PGA TOUR, non-major division, had shot worse than Dufner’s third-round 77 since Kenny Knox signed for a third-round 80 and won The Honda Classic in 1986. Roger Maltbie shot a final-round 76 and beat Hale Irwin in a playoff at the first Memorial in 1976. Nick Faldo shot a third-round 77 in winning the 1989 Masters.
Welcome to PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live! This is the PGA TOUR’s first offering of an interactive game using live odds, which are powered by PointsBet. It’s a weekly contest developed by Low6 and it’s free to play on desktop and mobile devices. RELATED: FAQs for PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live! Fittingly, its launch aligns with The Genesis Invitational. The annual stop at The Riviera Country Club hosts a smashing field of 120. What you’re reading now is the first edition of Pick ‘Em Preview, the weekly space dedicated to tournaments that PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live will be presenting. Our resident fantasy writers, Rob Bolton and Mike Glasscott, have been collaborating on various projects for many years, so we hope that you enjoy their analysis, insight, opinion, and banter as much as they do. Before you go on though be sure to sign up at https://pickemlive.pgatour.com/ and join the free fun! Not sure who to pick where? Never fear, our gurus are here! After having reviewed the board at PointsBet, Rob and Glass are sharing their opening selections for the weeklong component and for the first round. With this debut, they’ve dug into some of the strategic components of the gameplay. As we navigate PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live for ourselves, we will present more perspective, tips and other helpful hints from the experience. A cash prize bounty of $5,000 is on offer ever tournament for the top five scorers. $2,500 for first place, $1,000 for second, $750 for third, $500 for fourth and $250 for fifth. You cannot lose points at any time, so there’s no reason to abstain from any pick. And with three weeklong wagers hovering over 12 props for which progressive multipliers of 25, 50, 75 and 100 drive the action, you’re never out of the hunt. Odds for weeklong outrights will change in real time, and quite often in your favor. So, if you’re locked in at, say, +1200, and he moves to +2000, and you still want him as your choice, cancel and reselect at more favorable pricing. Just like that. Enjoy! WEEKLONG Outright Rob … Francesco Molinari (+15000) Unless you’re the punter who’d rather set and forget, à la Glass turning to shorter odds below, reaching for a longshot before R1 is the way to go in PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live. The experience and phenomenon of monitoring odds changing in real time is fascinating for me as someone who has never played in this space. With the power to modify the investment at any time, and with the insurance that I still can select the winner just before he is determined, consider making it a weekly routine to start outside the box. Thing is, despite what the board says, Molinari really isn’t a longshot on a course where he is a member. His value is long in part because of his form, but also because of the depth of the kind of field over which he hasn’t prevailed in recent memory – his and ours. Glass … Xander Schauffele (+2200) Uh, Rob, how many times has Webb Simpson won at Quail Hollow? How about Ryan Palmer at Colonial? I’ll hang up and listen to your answer. Meanwhile, it’s hard to turn down a number on Schauffele after he led the field last week in Strokes-Gained: Tee-to-Green for a T3. SoCal player has never missed the cut here in four tries and won’t have to figure out Poa. Max Homa won on his fifth try last year. Top 10 Rob … Francesco Molinari (+1000) There are a few ways you can go with this and your top-20 prop. First and foremost, unlike the outright, the lines for top 10 and top 20 will freeze during live action. You will be unable to modify either selection until play concludes every day. That could be challenging depending on where you are and your lifestyle because there isn’t a set period of time after any round when the window will reopen. As for the strategy, when an outright is as long as Molinari is at Riviera, and there aren’t any others valued more favorably (in your opinion) for a top 10, then you might as well double dip. Although my outright and top 10 match in the tournament for which PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em launches, it’s unlikely to happen again for a while. Regardless, with the promise to have the power to change picks in between rounds, ignoring the chalk for a longshot makes sense early. Once again, however, Glass has other ideas, but I’m used to that. It’s what makes his world go round. Glass … Matthew Fitzpatrick (+360) Value smacks me right in the forehead, so I’ll take it! The Englishman has stacked back-to-back top 10s at Pebble and Scottsdale in his first two TOUR events of 2022. Posted par or better in seven of eight career rounds here with T5 the highlight last year. Top 20 Glass … James Hahn (+650) Let’s gamble. I write Horses for Courses, so let’s get #OnBrand. I get that he’s ICE COLD right now but the 2015 champ hasn’t finished worse than T15 here the last three years. Remember, you can change all of your weeklong picks throughout the week, so riding a longshot isn’t the worst strategy in the business! Rob … C.T. Pan (+850) Gee, partner. Thanks for the advice! I’ll have to remember that. Molinari checks in at +425 here but Pan at twice the payoff is totally worth the early nod. He finished T20 here last year (in his fourth start) and he’s peppered leaderboards at times with top 20s. That’s all well and good, but the 30-year-old always has presented as a go-to on tough tracks. No, it’s not a sure thing, nothing is, but he does some of his best work when par is a good score. Pan isn’t quite at the class-is-permanent level, but he can see it from where he operates. The sequence of variables at Riviera are aligned to prove it. ROUND 1 Leader Glass … Patrick Cantlay (+2500) Saddle up, folks! Ready? Last four first rounds here: 67-68-68-66. Also, a bit hot in ALL FACETS of his game, no? Rob … Luke List (+6000) In full disclosure, either I’m missing something or I don’t have a mechanism for blind confidence. Connecting for the first-round leader, or the leader of any round, is akin to playing the lottery. Sure, you can kind of rule out a percentage of possibilities, but this is just an educated dart. For me, I’ve always espoused steering toward the draw with the better weather and/or wind. When it’s balanced and neutral as it will be throughout Thursday in Pacific Palisades, California, I default to the morning wave, and I’m hardly alone. Softer conditions from overnight moisture that settles and pure greens allow for better scoring. It’s that simple. Cantlay is perched atop my Power Rankings, but he goes out at 12:21 p.m. PT in the opening round. Pass. List tees off at 7:46 a.m., and he starts on the par-5 first hole with that elevated box beside the clubhouse. It’s been the easiest hole on Riviera for forever and it’s among the easiest par 5s on the PGA TOUR annually. He just captured his first TOUR title at Torrey Pines and he’s been among the best performers all season. So, give me the bomber to circle a birdie or even an eagle to ignite his day and keep that rally rolling. Make the Cut Rob … Francesco Molinari (-188) How do you say, “Duh,” in Italian? Not only is he already my outright, but his odds are the longest of the offerings. It’s almost an insult at this point. It’s important to note that, unlike the weeklong props, you will not be able to change this pick after the R1 deadline, but you won’t see an outcome on your home page until the 36-hole cut falls. Glass … Cameron Tringale (-277) Again, sniffing around for some value. I’ll ride his nine paydays from 10 starts at The Riv. Of them, seven are T30 or better, so you might shoehorn him in somewhere else if you need! Oh, and he’s on the “every” this week of his “every other week” streak of big finishes. Matchup Glass … Joaquin Niemann over Robert Streb and Adam Long. Opened his season T6 on Poa at Torrey before jetting off to Saudi Arabia for another top 10 (T8). Dialed in and easily the class of this 3 ball as Long is 0-3 and Streb is 0-7 here. Rob … Talor Gooch over Erik van Rooyen and Chez Reavie It’d be logical to double down on my FRL, Luke List, but the angle here isn’t the same. It’s relative to the group and the potential influence of its dynamics, but I do like the opportunity to take advantage of the vacuum of the morning conditions. I also like putting points on the board early for psychological reasons. With a multiplier of only 25 in R1, it’s not worth reaching. Can’t win the thing on Thursday! Moreover, of the first six wagers we make, this is the easiest to convert, so go ahead and drive to the hoop for the layup. Gooch, who goes off the par-4 10th at 7:13 a.m. PT, is having himself a season. In addition to his breakthrough victory at Sea Island, he’s second on TOUR in both red numbers (34) and sub-70s (30). In three appearances at Riviera, he’s finished a respective T20, T10 and T12 with a scoring average of 69.75. EVR is 0-for-1 with an average of 72.50 in his two rounds. Stallings exploded for a T4 in 2018, but it’s his only top 40 among three paydays in six trips. His scoring average in 30 rounds is 72.37. LATER ROUNDS Don’t forget, if you want to get the maximum chance at points, you’ll need to return prior to rounds 2, 3 and 4 to pick from three categories each round! There will be some variance between tournaments but the choices will come from the markets PointsBet provides. It’s likely most second rounds will see you picking two separate 3-ball results and which player will lead at the halfway mark. Start thinking about which players grind to make cuts, or who is prone to producing rebound rounds. It might be prudent to also think about those who may be mentally moving on to the following week a little early. Round 3 is slated to provide you with six match ups (2 or 3-Balls depending on tournament), from which you’ll have to make three selections. Who are the moving day masters? The final round, which carries the 100-point multiplier, will have you select three matchups from the final six groups of the tournament. As you watch those key players down the stretch remember you can change your weeklong outright winner if your choice has faded! How long will you keep the faith before jumping ship? Will a late change be enough to finish in the cash? If not, well you live to fight another week as we all go back to zero to kick off the next tournament! We hope you enjoy the ride as much as we intend to. Good luck!
