TOUR Championship, Round 1: Leaderboard, tee times, TV times

Somehow Justin Rose seems underrated. His victory at Torrey Pines makes one thing clear: He shouldn’t be underrated, because he is undeniably the top player in the world.

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The Breakfast Club in the morning, fans racing to the 16th hole. Concerts at night – including Snoop Dogg, who takes the stage Friday. In between? Plenty of exciting golf at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, where fun is in abundance and trash is non-existent (six consecutive years of Zero Waste). Oh, and the loudest cheers will be for the local college grad who’s making his record 30th start in this event. THE FLYOVER  The closing stretch at TPC Scottsdale includes three holes with plenty of scoring opportunities — the 553-yard par-5 15th (just avoid the water on the left); the famed 163-yard 16th, the easiest par 3 on the course; and the drivable 332-yard par-4 17th, which yielded 10 eagles last year. Combined, those three holes play to a stroke average of 0.649 under par. Even the closing hole, the 442-yard 18th, is not particularly difficult, with a stroke average just a shade over par. LANDING ZONE  The most difficult hole at TPC Scottsdale is the 490-yard par-4 14th, which played to a stroke average of 4.178 last year. A pinched-in landing zone makes it the second toughest fairway to hit on the course, and finding the green in regulation is even tougher, ranking No. 1 in lowest greens in regulation on the course. A year ago, Charlie Beljan smashed a drive in the first round 398 yards – 44 yards longer than any drive in the final three rounds. He could still only manage par. Here’s a look at where all drives landed last year. WEATHER CHECK From PGA TOUR meteorologist Wade Stettner: “Dry weather is forecast for the first round of the tournament on Thursday, but clouds will thicken up Thursday evening with rain chances possible between midnight and 6 a.m. Skies will clear out on Friday with another warm day expected. Afternoon temperatures on Friday will reach the lower 70s. A stronger front is forecast to arrive in Arizona this weekend with rain chances possible Saturday afternoon, Saturday night, and Sunday morning. The best chance for rain at this time appears to occur Saturday night with total rainfall between a quarter and half inch.â€� For the latest weather news from Scottsdale, Arizona, check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. SOUND CHECK I think everybody appreciates what this tournament is and that is a special week, different than any other that we have on TOUR and guys that kind of embrace that and embrace this environment. BY THE NUMBERS 21 – Number of players inside the top 30 of the FedExCup standings who are in the field this week. That includes the top three of Xander Schauffele, Matt Kuchar (each a two-time winner this season) and defending champion Gary Woodland. 82 – Balls in the water at the par-5 15th last season. That was the second most of any hole on the PGA TOUR, exceeded only by the 15th at TPC River Highlands. 301.3 – Average driving distance at TPC Scottsdale last season, making it one of five courses on TOUR with a field average over 300 yards on all tee shots. -48 – Cumulative score under par by Jon Rahm in his three starts in the 2019 calendar year. He’s played all 12 of his rounds at par or better. SCATTERSHOTS  ASU reps: Among collegiate programs, Arizona State alumni led the PGA TOUR in FedExCup points last season. Several ex-Sun Devil players are in the field this week – Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm, Chez Reavie and Grayson Murray. In addition, former ASU golf coach Tim Mickelson is caddying for his brother. High-ranking wins: World No. 1 and reigning FedExCup champion Justin Rose won last week at Torrey Pines, continuing a trend of high-ranking winners on TOUR this season. Of the 12 winners thus far, eight have been inside the top 40 in the Official World Golf Ranking at the time of their win. Fast starter: In his first 12 starts at TPC Scottsdale, Bubba Watson has played each opening round under par. Since 2007, he has more opening rounds under par at the WMPO than any other player (Mickelson, Kevin Na and Brian Gay are next on the list at nine). Those 12 opening rounds under par are the most for Bubba than any other tournament. Watson’s best results are a couple of T-2s.

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Don't call it a West Coast Swing - that'll come around again as usual in January and February - but the PGA TOUR will be spending the next three weeks in the Pacific Time Zone nonetheless. The stretch begins familiarly with the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, a fixture of the fall since 1990. Then, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, two of the three events on the canceled Asian Swing have been shifted temporarily to Nevada (THE CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK) and California (ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD). Of the trio, only the Shriners boasts a full field of 144 and includes a cut. The next two are 78-man invitationals with no cut. Scroll past the projected contenders for a breakdown of Kevin Na's improbable formula here last year, how TPC Summerlin sets up and more. RELATED: Inside the Field | Preview the course, storylines POWER RANKINGS: SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN OPEN Jason Day, Rickie Fowler, Francesco Molinari, Sungjae Im and Will Zalatoris will be among the notables reviewed in Tuesday's Fantasy Insider Conventional wisdom and empirical data often collide at TPC Summerlin. As one of the most vulnerable par 71s on the schedule - it was the easiest of 10 par 71s last season and its scoring average of 68.859 was a record low since its debuted in 1992 - the game plan to hit greens and sink putts is as true here as it is anywhere. However, every worthy course makes available the possibility for the winner to have lapped the field with the putter. Kevin Na proved it before outlasting Patrick Cantlay in a playoff a year ago. TPC Summerlin tips at just 7,255 yards and the greens are on the larger size due to winds that often blow in these parts, but when they don't, the tournament develops into a putting contest due to the preponderance of scoring opportunities. Consider that Na averaged 13.5 GIR per round last year (to rank T46), and he was a hair under the field average for the week. Cue the flat stick, Na's primary weapon. En route to 23-under 261, he ranked second in putting: birdies-or-better and led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting, putts per GIR, fewest putts, total distance of putts converted, one-putt percentage and highest conversion percentage from outside 10 feet. Nine of the other 11 who finished inside the top 10 on the leaderboard ranked inside the top 10 in green hit, but only three cracked the top 10 in Strokes Gained: Putting. Scoring conditions will be favorable during the first two rounds this week before a cooling pattern arrives on the weekend. With it, the breezes will intensify from a prevailing direction out of the southwest, and then shift to push in from the north. Daytime highs will tumble from right around 90 degrees on Thursday to about 80 for the finale. No rain will fall. For the third straight year, the primary rough will be limited to two inches. (It previously was three inches.) The bentgrass greens are prepped to run at about 11-and-a-half feet on the Stimpmeter, further favoring aggressive putting. ROB BOLTON'S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM's Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Rookie Watch, Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Fantasy Insider * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM's Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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