Tradition builds at Butterfield Bermuda Championship into fourth year

We are just a couple of weeks shy of the return of Tiger Woods and it got me thinking … just how much immediate momentum does winning on the PGA TOUR bring? Woods defied the odds in modern times by winning seven-straights starts in 2006-07, including two majors and two World Golf Championship events. He won six in a row in 1999-2000 and added five consecutive wins in 2007-08. And he didn’t even really sniff the overall record held by the legendary Byron Nelson. Nelson won an unfathomable 11-straight starts on the PGA TOUR in 1945. The current depth of fields on TOUR is arguably some of the best ever, so while we don’t see many ultra-long streaks, there is no doubt players can get an immediate boost from a win. That might seem obvious. But the joy of winning brings an inevitable celebration. And the energy it takes to win brings a natural lull afterwards. It can be hard to focus in immediately again. Sometimes the benefits to the win come down the road, not right away. But immediate winning momentum is something FedExCup champion Justin Thomas believes in. As does Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth. And if last season is any indicator and the early goings of this one are anything to go by, Patton Kizzire should be feeling very good heading into The RSM Classic, where he’s a pretty good bet to finish inside the top 25. The winner of last week’s OHL Classic in Mayakoba is also a Sea Island local, so he’s really riding high. “There’s been some celebrating, but luckily I know these courses really well and I’ve spent a lot of time learning them,â€� he said. “It’s good to be back home and sleep in my own bed and see friends and family, a lot of hugs a lot of high fives. It’s a great week and I’m looking forward to teeing it up tomorrow and seeing if I can continue making birdies.â€� The winners of the 47 official PGA TOUR events last season certainly didn’t take the following start for granted. They combined for four wins, nine top-fives, 15 top-10s and 29 top 25s. Just 11 times did a winner follow up the trophy hoist with a missed cut in their next start. In other words, over 60 percent of the time a winner backed up his performance with another top-25 finish. Johnson was the benchmark. He backed up two of his wins with another win as he won three straight at the Genesis Open, the World Golf Championships – Mexico Championship and the World Golf Championships – Dell Match Play. We were robbed of the chance to see how he may have gone in the Masters after his freak stair accident, but when he did return, he finished runner-up at the Wells Fargo Championship. His win at THE NORTHERN TRUST in the FedExCup Playoffs was also backed up with a T18 finish. Thomas was also pretty decent off a win. He was T23 after his first win last season, backed up his second win with a third win, backed that up with a rare missed cut before backing up his fourth win with a T6 and his fifth win with a T47. Spieth was three-for-three at being inside the top 25 post win. He was T22 at the Genesis Open after his win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am and backed up his win at the Travelers Championship with victory at The Open Championship. His next start after winning the Claret Jug was a was a T13 at the World Golf Championship – Bridgestone Invitational. Strengthening the momentum argument is a quick dissection of those who missed the cut in their next start … there are some decent excuses. Kevin Chappell’s next start after his win at the Valero Texas Open was part of a team at the Zurich Classic… he can only be held half responsible. On the flip side Jonas Blixt and Cameron Smith helped each other to win in Zurich but both missed cuts on their own at THE PLAYERS. Si Woo Kim’s back was playing up on him in his first start after his PLAYERS win and Jason Dufner’s next start after winning the Memorial was a tough and very long U.S. Open layout. Bryson DeChambeau only got his Open Championship start on the back of his John Deere Classic win and as such had to deal with the whirlwind change of plans. This season the trend is continuing and even doing better. Brendan Steele backed up his Safeway Open win with a T13, Pat Perez was T5 next start after winning the CIMB Classic and Ryan Armour was T20 after winning at Sanderson Farms. Thomas and Patrick Cantlay haven’t played since their recent wins. Neither technically has Justin Rose, in terms of the PGA TOUR, after his win in China. Those keen observers would know he actually won again right away on the European Tour. It all adds up to one thing. Draft Kizzire into your fantasy team while you still have time!

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We got ourselves a baller in the house. PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live is just four weeks old, but Rob already has hung up a pair of top 10s. After finishing third of about 5,700 entries at The Honda Classic, he wrangled a 10th among a little over 7,000 at THE PLAYERS Championship. Yeah, only the top five pay, but it’s a good thing – for you, wink wink – that he’s ineligible for prize money. As Rob himself declared at the outset, it’s always easier to win when a new game is launched. Not only is there a learning curve en masse, but traditionally there are fewer people against whom to compete until momentum builds. The expectation – and the plan, naturally – is for PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live to grow, but only the top five cash no matter how many are entered. In this week’s Draws and Fades, Rob walks you through his process that led to his performance at THE PLAYERS. It includes an accidental discovery of the difference in the timing of when the odds are updated on the interface (where the game is hosted) and PointsBet’s app. Capitalize on it. The Valspar Championship has us settling into what is a more familiar construct of a field. It’s more difficult to uncover the gems, but that’s why Glass and Rob collaborate for this weekly file in addition to their regular contributions across the FANTASY page. Register for PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live here and monitor their progress as Influencers; however, given Rob’s early success, you likely wouldn’t have to scroll or swipe for long to find him on the main leaderboard. For a broader explanation of the format and FAQs, click here. WEEKLONG Outright Rob … Denny McCarthy (+8000) Gosh, it feels good to have the honor again. Even better, with every passing week, I’m feeling the rhythm of the game. There’s no reason not to let a reach ride for a while. Remain patient and let the play develop. I omitted deeper analysis on McCarthy in my preview material, but not because he doesn’t make sense. There are just some guys who get overcovered for stretches for various reasons, so when the opportunity to expand the lens is presented, I take advantage. He’s among the most accurate off the tee and his putting takes the pressure off his mediocre irons. So, in a field with considerable strength at the top, but in a tournament with established competitive balance, I prefer the strong position of opening with a non-winner who has a decently balanced bag and a little mojo. Glass … Russell Knox (+6000) The Jacksonville resident battled through four rounds at par or better in his backyard at TPC Sawgrass before picking up his second top 10 (T6) of 2022. Rolling into Innisbrook on three consecutive T24-or-better finishes on the track, his three best from eight previous trips, suggests he has the digits to crack the code. The Florida grass and weather shouldn’t bother him and neither will be flying under the radar. I’m moving against a massive winner’s trend of succeeding early at this event but his play has been more than steady with five consecutive paydays, including a T7 at Sony on a demanding driving golf course at Waialae. Top 10 Glass … Alex Smalley (+1100) After seeing my dude peg Kisner at +1400 for a top 10 last week, I’m inspired to catch one of my own BIG FISH. Smalley didn’t have to fight the conditions for FIVE days last week and has been churning out results in 2022. Making the cut at Genesis, Honda and Arnold Palmer suggests he’s not intimidated by big ball-striking tracks. He’s in the top 75 of distance, fairways and greens in regulation, all of which plays this week. Let’s ride! Rob … Bubba Watson (+525) Glass is right about one thing, I am a dude who nailed Kisner last week – I also love his approach for Smalley – but I was grateful that the Top 10 bets never unlocked during THE PLAYERS, at least when I was paying attention, which was quite a bit. After a second-round 74, Kisner sat T22, so I may have been persuaded to modify the selection. We’ll never know, it doesn’t matter and I don’t care! Unlike THE PLAYERS where the depth of the field begets strong value deep in the ranks, the Valspar Championship encourages a conservative choice to benefit from a smaller sample size worthy of it. Watson is No. 8 in my Power Rankings. His firepower alone tempers his odds, but that value is strong considering he’s finished a respective T4 and T13 in the last two editions of the tournament. He also was the victim of Harold Varner III’s crazy-long birdie conversion at the buzzer of the Saudi Invite in early February. The home-state vibes and chill atmosphere at Copperhead are bonuses. Top 20 Rob … Vaughn Taylor (+700) As long as this unlocks, I’m going to swing for the fence before the tournament starts, but even if it doesn’t, the strategy of not making contact doesn’t cost as much as a more aggressive decision elsewhere. Consider that the longest odds on the board for a Top 20 are just +1700. Solid, but not necessarily game-changing when all you care about is a top-five finish. Taylor checks the boxes for converging trends, and that’s good enough for me. He finished T18 (2019) and T6 (2021) in the last two editions of the tournament, and he went for a T7 in his last start in Puerto Rico. That top 10 got him into the field this week. He’s one of my Sleepers. Glass … Mito Pereira (+400) Hitting it great here is paramount unless you scramble like Jordan Spieth or Patrick Reed, so I’ll run out fresh blood again with Pereira. His numbers off the tee and into greens stick out for me, and so does his T15 at Genesis (first time) and Honda (T30). I’ll toss in a T25 at Torrey Pines just to reinforce his strength tee to green. There’s no faking it at Riviera or Torrey Pines, so I’ll roll the dice. ROUND 1 Leader Rob … Patton Kizzire (+10000) When I joined Glass on his radio show on the Thursday afternoon of THE PLAYERS, I told him that he knew that I wasn’t going to let him bask for long after he had connected with Rory McIlroy as the R1 leader at Bay Hill the previous week. Tommy Fleetwood answered at TPC Sawgrass, and at four times the kickback. Boom. Quite simply, the strategy paid off. While Fleetwood was in the more fortunate wave, the plan all along was to toss out a guy who went out early. What’s more, and coincidentally, he had been a R1 leader at THE PLAYERS before. As I also explained and promised last week, my strategy henceforth will be to grab a guy in the early wave and remain fluid throughout the day. At Copperhead, I want my choice to navigate The Snake Pit mid-round and not at the end. Holes 16, 17 and 18 always average over par, but the par-5 first hole is one of the easiest on the entire PGA TOUR. Therefore, I want him to pounce on it not only after The Snake Pit but once he’s warm, so in addition to focusing only on the early wavers, I care only about guys starting on No. 10. Kizzire goes off 10 at 8:46 a.m. ET. He’s seventh on TOUR in first-round scoring average (68.15) and tops among the commitments. He’s opened 12 of his 13 starts this season with red numbers. His lowest score among 14 rounds at Copperhead is a 5-under 66 in the opening round of the tournament last year. Glass … Keegan Bradley (+5000) I rode the roller coaster of self-inflicted wounds last week with the big-boy ball-striker at TPC Sawgrass. My pre-tournament OUTRIGHT WINNER (at +8000) found himself one shot off the lead on the back nine, but I had already abandoned ship. I’M WEAK, I KNOW. A fantastic round turned to dust late on MONDAY but his form was never in question. Rob’s man-crush – well, ONE of them – opened here last year with 65, tied the 36-hole record and played from the final group on Sunday. There are many, many worse plays than this on the board this week! 3-Ball Glass … Joel Dahmen (ENTER ODDS HERE) over Andrew Landry and Michael Thompson First-round leader on debut here in 2019 takes on Landry (5 consecutive MC) and Thompson (4 consecutive MC before T60 last week). Dahmen’s T33 extends a run of four straight on TOUR, so I’ll ride the hottest hand of the trio. Rob … David Lipsky (+194) over Sahith Theegala and Bernd Wiesberger Remember, the reward outweighs failure when it comes to a single round, and because we’re credited with coins valued at just one-quarter the odds, go heavy on the risk. A winning bet at +100 yields 25 coins. Double the odds and you bank just 50 coins. In your pursuit of the top five for prize money, the difference is negligible if you lose. But because it’s golf, the law of averages is going to pay you more often than you think it will. I went heavy in all nine of my 3-balls at THE PLAYERS. Four came through for a value of 745 coins, and I was shut out in the finale (out of a possible 655 coins), but that haul represented just shy of only 18 percent of my overall, and I finished 509 coins outside the top five in a week when only two of the top 10 were paid by Cameron Smith’s opening outright line of +3300. (For more detail, jump to my Draws and Fades linked at the top.) So, I’m keeping it simple and leaning on a worldly veteran in Lipsky whose ball-striking is more encouraging than the feel game of his younger fellow rookie, Theegala, and the underachieving Wiesberger, who has only two top 10s in 65 PGA TOUR starts across 10 seasons. Make the Cut Glass … Russell Knox (-225) For reasons stated above, this makes sense. His game thrives tee to green and that’s what is required this week. When in doubt, I prefer riding the heat. Rob … Alex Noren (-200) Kevin Kisner (-180) is the only option with longer odds, but the street loves the Swede, so I might as well hop on the bandwagon. Noren finished T21 in his only appearance here last year. He’s also missed only two cuts in his last 12 starts in tournaments worldwide with a cut. He’s cashed in five straight upon arrival, two of which for a top 10.

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The desert-encircled, neon-charged cityscape of Las Vegas is instantly recognizable, and while images of the stark definition from the air are attention-grabbing, views from elevated spots on the ground perhaps are the most intriguing. Because you can see for miles and miles, the scope of The Strip against the distant backdrop of the Spring Mountains is more compelling. This is true approaching from the northeast on I-15 and especially just past dusk when the entire width of the city is visible, lit up and fronting the silhouette of the mountains under an orange sky. The daytime perspective from the opposite angle will be on display from the perch of this week’s host of the fourth PGA TOUR event of the 2021-22 season. Contested at The Summit Club, THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT features a limited field of 78 and no cut. For details of the tournament, the new venue, the specific history that defending Jason Kokrak is chasing and more, continue reading beneath the projected contenders. Tuesday’s Fantasy Insider will include reviews of defending champion Jason Kokrak, Jordan Spieth, Hideki Matsuyama, Sergio Garcia and other notables. For the second consecutive year, THE CJ CUP is being staged in the United States due to the pandemic. Last year’s edition was held at Shadow Creek Golf Course north of downtown Las Vegas. The Summit Club is due west of The Strip and only six miles south of TPC Summerlin, site of last week’s Shriners Children’s Open. As of Monday, 46 of the 78 in the field at THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT competed at the Shriners, including champion Sungjae Im. Because the tournament originally was scheduled to be in South Korea, eight exemptions into the tournament still were reserved specifically for golfers from the country. Five qualified via the money list on the KPGA, while the other three were selected using the Official World Golf Ranking on Oct. 4. Sixty exemptions are reserved for golfers in order of the final standings of the 2020-21 FedExCup. Only eight of the top 60 have elected not to play. The Summit Club opened in the spring of 2017. The stock par 72 is a Tom Fazio design tipping at 7,431 yards. The viewpoints on the tee boxes at the 614-yard, par-5 sixth hole and 508-yard par-4 10th face The Strip about 10 miles to the east, but elevated sightlines with scenic vistas in all directions are experienced throughout the walk. The jackpot probably won’t be settled until the finishing hole. Measuring 580 yards, it’s also is par 5. Bentgrass greens are average in size and are prepped to touch a typical 12 feet on the Stimpmeter. The rest of the property is blanketed with overseeded bermudagrass and the primary rough stands at four inches. Despite the relative youth of the course, all 62 bunkers recently have been replaced with fresh sand. The exclusive club claims two-time major champion Collin Morikawa among its members. The scary thing about that fact is that ball-strikers already have an edge on unfamiliar tracks because it takes a round or two to get the feel for the greens, their undulations, where to miss, etc. Morikawa already is a proven, world-class tee-to-green technician, but now he’s equipped with perhaps more first-hand knowledge than everyone else in the field. Kokrak capitalized on the formula at Shadow Creek last year. Arguably most familiar with it, he broke through for his first PGA TOUR title in what was his 10th season as a member. Now he’s faced with defending on a different test. If he converts, he’ll be the first to do so in a non-major on a different course since Jim Furyk successfully defended at the RBC Canadian Open at Angus Glen Golf Club’s North Course in 2007. (He connected for the 2006 Canadian Open title at Hamilton Golf & Country Club.) Conditions as spectacular as the views will be the norm throughout the tournament. Just about nothing but sunshine is expected for all four rounds. Daytime highs will climb from the upper 60s into the mid-70s for the finale. Winds will be light. 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: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers; Fantasy Insider SUNDAY: Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, 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

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