U.S. Open preview: Odds, storylines and more

How the field qualified for the Travelers Championship as of 6/14/19: Winner – PGA/U.S. Open Championship Jason Day Brooks Koepka Jordan Spieth Justin Thomas Winner – THE PLAYERS Championship Si Woo Kim Winner – The Masters Patrick Reed Bubba Watson Winner – British Open Francesco Molinari Winner – World Golf Championship Event Kevin Kisner Russell Knox Phil Mickelson Winners of the Arnold Palmer Inv. & the Memorial (Last 3 Years) Patrick Cantlay Bryson DeChambeau Marc Leishman Tournament Winner in Past Two Seasons Ryan Armour Daniel Berger Jonas Blixt Keegan Bradley Paul Casey Cameron Champ Austin Cook Brice Garnett Cody Gribble Adam Hadwin Brian Harman Russell Henley J.B. Holmes Max Homa Mackenzie Hughes Sung Kang Michael Kim Patton Kizzire Satoshi Kodaira Andrew Landry Adam Long Troy Merritt Rod Pampling Cheng Tsung Pan Andrew Putnam Cameron Smith Brandt Snedeker Kyle Stanley Brendan Steele Chris Stroud Hudson Swafford Martin Trainer Kevin Tway Career Money Exemption Padraig Harrington Sponsors Exemptions – Members not otherwise exempt Aaron Baddeley Boo Weekley Sponsors Exemptions – Unrestricted Viktor Hovland Collin Morikawa Justin Suh Matthew Wolff PGA Section Champion/Player of the Year Chris Tallman Past Champion of Respective Event Kevin Streelman Top 125 on Prior Season’s FedEx Cup Points List Tony Finau Tommy Fleetwood Emiliano Grillo Chez Reavie Byeong Hun An Chesson Hadley Beau Hossler Jason Kokrak Brian Gay Abraham Ancer J.J. Spaun Peter Uihlein Louis Oosthuizen Ryan Moore Whee Kim Nick Watney Bronson Burgoon Charley Hoffman Joel Dahmen Brian Stuard Kelly Kraft Tom Hoge Scott Stallings Danny Lee Ollie Schniederjans Anirban Lahiri Sam Ryder Trey Mullinax Brandon Harkins Harold Varner III Alex Cejka Richy Werenski Tyler Duncan Seamus Power Martin Laird J.T. Poston Vaughn Taylor Sam Saunders Ryan Blaum Scott Brown Nick Taylor Bud Cauley Harris English Top 125 (Prior Season Nonmember) Joaquin Niemann Kiradech Aphibarnrat Major Medical Extension Lucas Glover Freddie Jacobson Morgan Hoffmann Jim Herman Brandon Hagy Colt Knost Leading Money Winner from Web.com Tour & Web.com Tour Finals Sungjae Im Denny McCarthy Top Finishers from Web.com Tour Prior Season (reordered) Sam Burns Adam Schenk Kyoung-Hoon Lee Matt Jones Carlos Ortiz Peter Malnati Wyndham Clark Roger Sloan Scott Langley Shawn Stefani Jim Knous Sebastián Muñoz Kramer Hickok Cameron Tringale Hank Lebioda Robert Streb Dylan Frittelli Julián Etulain Curtis Luck Chase Wright Stephan Jaeger Cameron Davis Anders Albertson Sepp Straka Hunter Mahan Roberto Díaz Alex Prugh Adam Svensson Seth Reeves Brady Schnell José de Jesús Rodríguez Ben Silverman Josh Teater Nicholas Lindheim Fabián Gómez J.J. Henry Joey Garber Kyle Jones John Chin Wes Roach Sangmoon Bae Zack Sucher Chris Thompson Chad Collins Kris Blanks Will Claxton Will MacKenzie 126 – 150 Prior Season’s FEC Points List (Reordered) Talor Gooch Dominic Bozzelli Nate Lashley Johnson Wagner David Hearn Ben Crane Tom Lovelady Martin Piller Derek Fathauer Tyrone Van Aswegen Robert Garrigus David Lingmerth Chad Campbell Reorder Category – Cat. 34 thru 38 Matt Every Jonathan Byrd D.J. Trahan Brendon Todd Billy Hurley III George McNeill Andres Romero John Senden Daniel Chopra Parker McLachlin Tim Herron Brian Davis Chris Couch Charlie Beljan John Rollins Robert Allenby Derek Ernst John Merrick Ricky Barnes Ken Duke Brendon de Jonge Arjun Atwal Jason Bohn Charlie Wi Jonathan Kaye Omar Uresti Beyond 150th on Prior Season’s FEC Points List Eric Axley Dicky Pride Tommy Gainey Troy Matteson Heath Slocum Ã�ngel Cabrera Cameron Beckman Jay Don Blake Neal Lancaster Chris Smith Frank Lickliter II Past Champion Member Robert Gamez Len Mattiace Keith Clearwater Glen Day Ted Purdy Brett Wetterich Tom Byrum Richard S Johnson Spike McRoy Marc Turnesa Mike Heinen Guy Boros Veteran Member Craig Barlow

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FORT WORTH, Texas — Webb Simpson shot a 3-under 67 on Saturday to break out of a crowd and take the third-round lead at the DEAN & DELUCA Invitational. At 9-under 201, Simpson was two strokes ahead of Danny Lee and Paul Casey after both of them made long birdie putts at the 18th hole. Stewart Cink and Kevin Kisner were three strokes off the lead. Part of a four-way tie for the 36-hole lead, Simpson went ahead alone to stay after consecutive birdies to start his back nine. He made a 6-foot birdie putt at the 387-yard 10th and a 12-footer at the 630-yard 11th before finishing with seven consecutive pars. It is only the second time in 12 years at DEAN & DELUCA for the 54-hole leader to have more than a one-stroke advantage. Defending champion Jordan Spieth shot a 68 with a caddie switch after making the turn, and was at 4 under. Spieth’s regular caddie, Michael Greller, left the course after 11 holes because of heat exhaustion on a steamy day with temperatures in the 90s and the heat index higher than that. Damon Goddard, the personal trainer for the player and the caddie, carried the bag the rest of the round — a stretch when Spieth had a bogey and two birdies. Lee and Kisner also were tied for the second-round lead, along with Scott Piercy, whose shot 72 to fall five strokes back. After three birdies and three bogeys his first eight holes Saturday, Lee had a steady stream of pars until finishing with a 16-foot birdie for a round of 69. Casey, who shot 68, was alone in second for only a couple of minutes. He made a nearly 25-foot birdie putt that had just enough speed to fall into the cup at No. 18, while Lee was playing in the group behind him. Casey was 1 over for the day without a birdie until starting his back nine with three birdies in a four-hole stretch that included a bogey. Piercy was still within a stroke of the lead at 8 under after a par-saving 13-foot putt at the 12th hole after driving into the rough and hitting his approach in a greenside bunker there. Piercy then promptly hit his tee shot at the par-3 13th into the pond on way to a double-bogey. He followed with another bogey at 15 when he drove into the rough and then hit into a greenside bunker, and did the same at No. 18. Simpson, the 2012 U.S. Open winner playing in the final group, started the round with birdies at the first two holes. He gave one of those back with a bogey at the par-3, 192-yard No. 8 after missing the green with his tee shot. Since losing a playoff to Hideki Matsuyama at Phoenix, Simpson had missed four of nine cuts before this week. The four-time PGA TOUR winner’s best finish in that stretch was a tie for 11th at the RBC Heritage.

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NAPA, Calif. - Lisa Cink grabbed her husband Stewart by the shirt front Sunday morning and pulled him in close with some vigor. "Do you know how good you are?" she asked firmly while staring him down. It was a slightly aggressive move but it was done with nothing but love. This was a wife who knows a thing or two about fighting tough battles trying to inject some confidence into her man. And it was a kick in the butt moment Stewart needed as he contemplated heading out to try to break a win drought spanning over 11 years. RELATED: Final leaderboard | 18 things to know about Stewart Cink It also wasn't the only thing Lisa imparted on her husband before he would ultimately go out to Silverado Resort and Spa to shoot his second consecutive 7-under 65 to win by two shots. Her words came after Cink had confided in her, saying "I'm really excited for today and I’m really scared." "She had some great words. She said, “You know what? You’re loved no matter what you do. No one expects anything out of you. I know you can do it and you know you can do it ... you're with your son ... so just go out there and have a great time." It helped Cink feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude to even be in a position to win again after what had stretched to a 4,074 day drought. Indeed, son Reagan was acting as his caddie this week. It was also his other son Connor's birthday. Reagan had recently become engaged. Things were good in life. Prior to his two-shot triumph over Harry Higgs, the last win for Cink was his 2009 Open Championship victory at Turnberry where he famously overran 59-year-old Tom Watson in a playoff. Watson had been a final hole par short of a famous victory but when he faulted, Cink stepped in to seal the win. It was his sixth TOUR win and looked like it could be the start of something big. But his life would get topsy turvy from there. Over the 11 seasons from 2010-2020 Cink had just 15 top-10s, none of which were victories. But it was in 2016 where things got really rough as Lisa was diagnosed with breast cancer. Thankfully she made it to remission. Just a few years ago Stewart had his own cancer scare, needing to have cancerous cells cut out of his face. More reasons to feel gratitude as he closed the front nine with a fourth birdie to join the lead. A chip in birdie on the par-3 11th had him top spot to himself, but it was a moment with Lisa off the 14th green, after he'd just missed a 16-foot birdie chance to press his advantage, that was just as critical. Instead of being annoyed, he was content. "I definitely had a lot of emotions out there today. I just was overcome at a few times with a feeling of gratitude and just feeling like how fortunate I am to be in the position that I’m in," Cink confirmed. "We call it when the bullets are flying out there. The last four or five holes of a PGA TOUR event your name’s on top of the leaderboard, but think about it, I’ve got my son caddieing for me, my wife is in almost five‑year remission now and she’s walking out there just on the side of the ropes, and at 47 I’m able to compete at the highest level and now not just compete, but win," Cink beamed. "I walked over to the side of the ropes after 14 and I grabbed Lisa by the arm and I just told her how grateful I was at that moment. I always try really hard to keep my heart in the right place when I’m competing, that’s just one of my main goals. I want to win, but I don’t want winning to be something that I have to do to like fulfill myself." Cink admitted he had come to terms with the possibility he might never win again during his long drought. The calmness at that moment was in fact a huge factor. As he heard a roar behind him that came as Higgs made a long-range birdie on the 14th, Cink responded with a 20-foot birdie of his own on the 15th. He then birdied the 16th. "I came to terms with the possibility that it might not happen, I did, but it’s not something I was settled or content with. I still compete to try to win and I work hard on my game and I just try to squeeze every little bit of juice I can out of my golf game, out of that lemon," Cink said. "In that regard, I’m no different than a 20‑ or 25‑year‑old kid out here who’s still got like his entire career ahead of him. I’m still working like crazy to try to be the best golfer I can be, but there was probably a time where I felt like maybe age might have caught up with me and maybe I might have had my last win out here, but I wasn’t ready to concede that. I just knew that if I got back into position again, that if the time’s right, I can hang in there." It wasn't without some nervous moments. Higgs turned a good bounce off some trees and a cart path into an eagle on the 16th to pull within two. And he made sure to walk all the way up to the green at 17 as Cink left his six-foot par putt short to cut his lead to just one. Cink dodged one when Higgs missed an eight-foot birdie soon after and another by hitting the fairway off the 18th tee and hitting his 7-wood through to the back of the par-5 finisher with style to allow a relatively simple up and down to make another birdie. "If you go out there thinking you’re not going to lose it, then you’re wrong and you’re going to be shocked. So I was prepared to lose it. I mean, for crying out loud, I left a five‑foot putt short on the 17th hole that I needed to make," Cink explained. "That’s not like what a champion does, but a champion does get back up off the mat when he gets knocked down and I got knocked down a little bit there and I went and played the 18th hole the best I’ve played it in my whole life." While Lisa had the golden words prior to the round, son Reagan had the gilded tongue during the round. The 23-year-old is not a regular caddie, in fact this was just his fourth time carrying the bag. As they came off the second green Reagan said, "Dad your tangibles are really, really good right now. Your club, your ball, your tangibles, like your ball’s doing what it’s supposed to do, you’re putting, your ball’s starting online. Let’s just take care of the intangibles today." Cink was impressed. And he relaxed. "That is like great advice like for someone who’s caddied three or times in the PGA TOUR and hasn’t played in a golf tournament I don’t think since high school golf," Cink said. "But he made a good point; my driver was doing what it’s supposed to do, my fairway woods, my irons, my wedges, my putter, everything was really doing what it was supposed to do and it was up to me to take care of the rest. "He did a great job keeping me positive and keeping me loose out there. We just had a really great time from the get-go all week. He’s not just a ceremonial caddie. He understands golf to the very, very highest level. It was really a great experience." The win will see the 47-year-old now fully exempt through this season and two more after it meaning he will get through to his 50th birthday when he becomes PGA TOUR Champions eligible. He will also find a place in the 2021 PLAYERS Championship and Masters tournaments and the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Maui. As such he will have to cancel a family ski trip in favor of one in the sun. Lisa wasn't complaining. "This is the culmination of so many things. It’s so special to have Reagan and Stewart do this together. I’ve watched him work so hard for so many years without the results, so for those to show up now is just an amazing blessing," she said. When her husband and son came off the 18th green and the win was officially secured after Higgs was unable to hole out a wedge shot for eagle Lisa grabbed Stewart's shirt again. She also grabbed Reagan's. This time she pulled them in for a well deserved massive hug.

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