Tiger Woods, Steve Stricker to be vice captains at Ryder Cup

Here are nine tidbits from the third round of the 100th PGA Championship gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis plays 7,316 yards to par-70. Know Thy Enemy These were the top-10 selected, plus one, golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf game presented by SERVPRO. Round 2 was completed before 11:00 a.m. Saturday morning before Round 3 tee times began at 11:30 a.m. The cut landed on 140 (E) and for the first time in the history of the majors, +1 did NOT make the weekend. Of the 81 who made the cut they play both weekend rounds as there is no MDF in the major championships. Sunshine and hot temperatures made for ideal scoring conditions for the third round running. 54-Hole Leader After tying the PGA Championship record with 63 in Round 2, Brooks Koepka raced out of the blocks in Round 3. He was cruising with a five-shot lead as he went out in 30 before a pair of bogeys kept the field interested. He eventually signed for 66, tied for the second-best round of the day, and his total of 12 under par will give him a two-shot cushion in Round 4. He’ll look to join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only players to win the U.S. Open and PGA Championship in the same season. Shotgun Rider Australian Adam Scott, as his investors will remind me, only has one top-10 payday this season on the Zoysia fairways at Trinity Forest (T9). He’ll play in the final group after posting the round of the day, 65, with birdies on two of his last three holes. He’s played the final three holes in 4 under the last two rounds and has plenty of experience in big moments. Beware the Injured Golfer Rickie Fowler is dealing with an oblique injury but gutted out 69 and will begin Sunday in the penultimate group with Jon Rahm. He’s three back but sits third in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. He hasn’t made anything this week but only has five total bogeys on his card. As long as he wakes up feeling well he should be in the fight on the back nine. Rahm-bo Fowler’s playing partner is also three back and is also looking to find answers with the putter on Sunday. Jon Rahm hasn’t squared a bogey in his last 45 holes but he resides in the bottom half of Strokes Gained: Putting. The good news is he’s in the top six in both Tee-to-Green and Approach-the-Green and that doesn’t hurt. He’s chased before this year as he signed for 3 under at Augusta on Sunday for solo fourth. First Time for Everything? Tiger Woods has never won a major championship in come-from-behind fashion but he’ll have a chance to change that Sunday. After back-to-back rounds of 66, Woods is in with a shout as he’ll begin the final round four shots behind Koepka (T6). The key for Woods will be simple in the final round as he’ll have to find some fortune on the back nine. He’s 2 over for the week on the inward nine and hasn’t broken par in three tries. Moving Day Daniel Berger has been battling a wrist injury but admitted before his round it’s go-time. He stepped on the gas after his opening nine of 41 to post 12 under in his last 45 holes. He moved up 21 spots to T15 after 66 in Round 3. … Xander Schauffele is looking to claim his third consecutive top-10 payday in the majors after T6 at Shinnecock Hills and T2 at Carnoustie. His 67 moved him to T15 and like Berger sits just one shot out of the top 10. Moving Day: Wrong Way Dustin Johnson didn’t make a birdie through the first 14 holes and saw the field run right past him as he was 5 over. Birdies on three of the last four holes saw him post 72 (+2) rally to T21 but he was T5 to begin Round 3. … Kevin Kisner played in the final group Saturday for the second year running and the results were similar. His 72 last year saw him maintain his lead but his 72 this time dropped him from second to T12. He finished T7 last year. Study Hall It keeps getting “easier” and that’s hardly a surprise after the weather. Round 2 finished under par at 69.594 while Round 3 was a tick lower at 69.500. … There were three bogey-free rounds in Round 3 as club professional Ben Kern joined Rahm and Berger in this elite club.  … Tony Finau has circled 18 birdies to lead the way but is T57. … Englishman Matt Wallace made a hole-in-one on No. 15 with a 5-iron from 232 yards. … The top four plus ties get into the Masters next year. … Every winner in recent memory has been in the top five entering Sunday.

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2022 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, Round 1 Scoring Conditions: Overall: +0.29 strokes per round Morning wave: +0.10 Afternoon wave: +0.48 Current cutline (top 65 and ties): 82 players at +1 or better (T63) Top 3 projected cutline probabilities: 1. 1 over par: 41.9% 2. E: 26.0% 3. 2 over par: 22.1% Top 10 win probabilities: 1. Rory McIlroy (1, -7, 25.3%) 2. Billy Horschel (T2, -5, 6.6%) 3. Sungjae Im (T5, -4, 6.1%) 4. Viktor Hovland (T11, -3, 6.1%) 5. Jon Rahm (T51, E, 4.3%) 6. Will Zalatoris (T5, -4, 4.0%) 7. Scottie Scheffler (T21, -2, 3.3%) 8. Tyrrell Hatton (T11, -3, 3.2%) 9. Adam Scott (T5, -4, 2.9%) 10. Charles Howell III (T5, -4, 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 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, 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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