Things got off to a promising start for Tiger Woods on Saturday. After finishing Friday just six strokes behind Dustin Johnson, Woods cut into that lead by sinking birdies on his first two holes at the WGC-Mexico Championship on Saturday. Woods maintained that pace for most of the day.
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For the second time in five editions, the Wells Fargo Championship will be contested on a course other than its primary so that Quail Hollow Club can continue preparing for another premier event. In 2017, Quail Hollow was the host of the PGA Championship. This September, it’ll be the stage for the Presidents Cup. Pinch-hitting is TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm. It hasn’t hosted the Wells Fargo Championship, but it’s not a stranger to the PGA TOUR and its sanctioned circuits. For analysis of the par 70, what the field of 156 can expect and more, continue reading beneath the ranking of projected contenders. RELATED: Play Pick ‘Em Live | The First Look | Inside the Field POWER RANKINGS: WELLS FARGO CHAMPIONSHIP Francesco Molinari, Tony Finau, Webb Simpson, Patrick Reed and Rickie Fowler will be among the notables reviewed in Tuesday’s Draws and Fades. A thorough history of the role that TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm has played for the PGA TOUR can be read in “Five Things to Know”. It’s experienced a variety of changes, and that’s an understatement. After its position as an annual par 71 for the old Kemper Open and its subsequent iterations into 2006, it underwent a full-scale renovation in 2007. That included a revision of overall par to 70. The PGA TOUR Champions made a stop in 2010, and then the Korn Ferry Tour descended twice in an eight-month period stretching in 2013. All who showed were challenged by what was a new, fresh examination. The course returned to the PGA TOUR to host the last two editions of the Quicken Loans National in 2017 and 2018. With a scoring average of 71.458 in the former, it was the hardest par 70 in a non-major that season. Scoring eased to 69.894 the following year when Francesco Molinari was the kind of zone that would make present-day Scottie Scheffler seem like he’s misfiring. (Molinari is committed this week; Scheffler is resting.) Both previous contests were in late June. In 2018, moderate winds gave way to calm, hot air by the final round. No such conditions this week with springtime weather in the mid-Atlantic. (TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm is about 10 miles northwest of Washington, D.C.) With the threat of rain on Friday and Saturday, daytime highs will drop from the mid-70s to potentially no higher than 60 degrees by the weekend. Winds also will freshen. After 2018, the par-5 second and 10th holes were extended by a respective 22 and 31 yards. Now tipping at 641 and 591 yards, respectively, TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm maxes out at 7,160. Bentgrass greens average just 4,265 square feet, and they’ll be ready to run 12½ feet on the Stimpmeter, weather pending. As of Monday afternoon, 44 of this week’s entrants were here in 2017. Of them, 26 returned in 2018 from which there is a total of 51 back this week. Just as it was for them a few years ago, the pair of par 5s will not be a reliable source of par breakers. Overall, for a course with small greens, the challenge to salvage par is multiplied by the combination of fescue and bluegrass rough, the longest of which is trimmed to 2½ inches, but there’s an intermediate cut that’s 1¼ inches high. Although greens are not entirely foreign, they’re relatively unfamiliar with the passage of time, so, just as Molinari showcased during his incredible display en route to an eight-stroke victory four years ago, the premiums to eliminate the big numbers are equal parts splitting fairways and hitting greens in regulation. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.com’s Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous perspectives. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Draws and Fades WEDNESDAY: Pick ’Em Preview SUNDAY: Medical Extensions, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Rookie Ranking * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan was hit by Matthew Fitzpatrick’s errant tee shot Thursday at the PGA Championship.
Welcome to the Asian Swing. The PGA TOUR will spend the next three weeks in Asia, starting with this week’s THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES in Korea (followed by tournaments in Japan and China). In case you were wondering: South Korea is 13 hours ahead for those on the East Coast, so you’ll have plenty of late-night golf to follow. RELATED: Tee times | How to watch THE FLYOVER The 568-yard par-5 18th is one of the most unique holes on the PGA TOUR, with twin distinct ways to reach the green – a risk and reward approach on the left and a safer but three-shot approach to the right. Click here for more on the 18th. If you’re behind by a couple of shots … well, the choice of attack seems fairly easy to make. WEATHER CHECK The weather at Jeju Island should be pleasant all week, although a 50% chance of rain exists for Friday’s second round. Humidity will also be highest on that day. Winds will be manageable, reaching 12 mph in the first two rounds. For the latest weather news from JeJu Island, South Korea, check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. SOUND CHECK CJ just puts on an unbelievable event. The food is incredible, the golf course is awesome, you get a great amount of fans that come out and watch and support. … I feel like this has been a great addition to the PGA TOUR schedule. By the numbers 16 – Players from South Korea who are in the field this week. 29 – Brooks Koepka’s back-nine score (7 under) in his final-round 64 last year en route to winning. 8 – PGA TOUR wins by K.J. Choi, making him the winningest South Korean player on TOUR. Scattershots Big hitters course: With Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka as the two winners in this event, it’s evident the Nine Bridges course favors big hitters. “I think length is a huge advantage here; obviously you’ve seen that with Justin Thomas winning, Brooks Koepka winning,â€� said another one of the TOUR’s big hitters, Gary Woodland, who was runner-up to Koepka last year. “If you hit the golf ball a long way, it’s a huge advantage, but you have to drive the golf ball in the fairway to attack some of these — there’s some big greens out there where they can get some tight pins. So playing from the fairway is a premium, and then the biggest challenge out here is the weather. If the wind’s blowing, this golf course becomes extremely tough.â€� Seeking a pick: Several players in consideration for a captain’s pick for the Presidents Cup in December are playing this week, including American hopeful Jordan Spieth, who is making his tournament debuts this week. Spieth would like to regain the form that has allowed him to become a mainstay in recent team competitions. “My goals are pretty personal right now,â€� Spieth said. “So I certainly want to get back in the winner’s circle, it’s been a little while, and I would like to be more consistent this year, being able to tee it up on Sundays with chances to win more consistently and that comes from better ball-striking.â€� JT in Asia: Of his 10 career victories, Justin Thomas has won three times during the Asian Swing, including his first two career wins in the CIMB Classic. “Asia definitely got the start of my career going and I have a lot of great memories and I’ve learned a lot,â€� Thomas said. “There’s a lot of times when I’m coming down the stretch in tournaments, I’m able to look back on these events knowing that I’ve done well.  So it’s a very special place. I’ve always enjoyed coming here. Everybody treats me and everybody else so well, so that’s very enjoyable. Hopefully we’ll be able to create some more memories.â€�
