UPDATE 2-LPGA Tour HSBC Women’s Champions Scores

Are you ready for eagles and birdies again? Of course you are. So are the 49 golfers who have made their way from the U.S. Open on Long Island up to TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut, for this week’s Travelers Championship. If the RBC Heritage is the hammock after the intensity of the Masters, the Travelers is the 5 p.m. whistle on a Friday following the season’s second major. TPC River Highlands is open for business and taking orders. Scroll beneath the ranking for more on last year’s unforgettable finish, the track, what’s needed to perform well and other information to prepare you for this week’s 156-man competition. POWER RANKINGS: 2018 TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP RANK PLAYER COMMENT Checked up at T6 after sharing the 54-hole lead at Shinnecock Hills, but co-led the field in par-4 scoring. In two spins at TPC River Highlands, he’s gone T5-P2 with a scoring average of 67.13. He’s scored 9-under 271 in each of the last two editions to finish a respective T11 and T5. He’s been just as consistently strong over the last three months with a win among seven top 10s. Never a concern statistically and honoring his objective to generate consistency this season. His T25 at the U.S. Open was his 15th consecutive top 25 in official individual competition. Quietly T10 at the U.S. Open. That tags onto a T20 at the Masters and his win at THE PLAYERS among other notable results this season. He’s 8-for-8 at the Travelers with three top 15s. Predictable endorsement here with three top 10s in last five appearances (scoring average = 67.75), but he’s also coming off a T20 at the U.S. Open, his fifth top 25 in the last six majors. Perfect in seven trips with his breakthrough victory in 2012 among four top 20s. Ranks 14th on TOUR in birdies-or-better percentage. One month removed from solo second at Trinity Forest. Even when he’s not simmering, his record here is too glossy to ignore. Since debuting in 2011, he’s 6-for-7 with a T5 (2014), another five top 25s and a scoring average of 68.08. Rested after a T13 at Memorial, one of five top 20s in his last 10 starts. Two-time co-runner-up at the Travelers with another three top 10s and yet another two top 20s in 10 appearances. Rapidly becoming a threat on the biggest stages thanks to a T6 at the U.S. Open and a T2 at THE PLAYERS last month. T14 at the Travelers last year after a T5 at the U.S. Open. Since his P2 as a debutant in 2015, he’s added a T17 (2016) and a T5 (2017). His scoring average in those 12 rounds is 67.25. The top-20 machine finished T16 at Shinnecock Hills. Held his own for a T25 at Shinnecock Hills, his latest impressive result of the last four months-plus. Memorial title three weeks ago headlines five top fives. Third start at TPC River Highlands. TPC River Highlands is the kind of spot where he can find his game … and some confidence. Went wire-to-wire in what was his first appearance last year. Currently second on TOUR in GIR. Closed out his debut here last year with a field-low-tying 64 to place T17. Ranked second in strokes gained: tee-to-green for the week. Inconsistency in 2018 lowered him to this spot, however. It’s natural to expect an emotional letdown, but don’t expect a massive drop in performance. Steady since returning from injury and still relatively fresh. Placed T9 in last visit here in 2016. A frustrating and compelling talent all season despite two victories. Still best on TOUR in strokes gained: putting but outside the top 140 in eight splits in proximity to the hole from 75-275 yards. Patrick Cantlay, Brandt Snedeker and Zach Johnson will appear in Tuesday’s Fantasy Insider with former winners Bubba Watson (2010, 2015), Kevin Streelman (2014) and Russell Knox (2016). It’s the first anniversary of Jordan Spieth’s hole-out that secured victory at the Travelers Championship, but no matter how many years pass, it was arguably the most exciting moment of the 2016-17 season and an indelible memory for generations. How the defending champion got to that point – he took down Daniel Berger in the only hole needed in sudden death – was as Spiethian as it gets. Spieth completed the tournament ranked outside the top 35 in distance off all drives (T38), fairways hit (T41), greens in regulation (T42) and par-5 scoring (T69). Typically, proficiency in at least one of those last three stats contributes to victory. Furthermore, it looks like a typo that he still managed to lead the field in strokes gained: tee-to-green, but it’s true. Because Spieth connected for birdie on 21 of 49 attempts to break par with his putter, he was the pacesetter in birdies-or-better percentage, one of just 11 winners last season who led their field in that scoring metric. (He added a zero-putt birdie on the par-5 sixth hole in the third round and led the field with 22 par breakers.) Berger checked the boxes of prerequisites for success at TPC River Highlands. He finished T3 in GIR, sixth in proximity (Spieth was T38) and fourth in scrambling (Spieth was T19). With bentgrass greens averaging just 5,000 square feet and running upward of 12 feet on the Stimpmeter, and with a perennial premium on hitting targets defended by four-inch rough on approach, Berger’s performance is the preferred method. The stock par 70 tipping at just 6,841 yards can also brag that its par 5s (Nos. 6 and 13) are not pushovers. Collectively, they ranked as the eight-hardest set of par 5s of 50 last season. It’s the second straight year they’ve been among the top-10 most difficult. Overall, the course averaged 70.199. TPC River Highlands will usher in summer with seasonable conditions. Sunshine will be the story until the 36-hole cut falls. When the weekend arrives, clouds will move in ahead of a reasonable threat for rain on Sunday. Wind could be a factor later as well. Daytime high will oscillate around 80 degrees. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton reviews and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Rookie Ranking, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Facebook Live, Fantasy Insider WEDNESDAY: One & Done THURSDAY: Champions One & Done * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO, which also publishes on Tuesdays.

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Three trips around Pete Dye's dastardly Stadium Course at PGA West, and not a single bogey. Si Woo Kim remains unflappable to the end and birdies two of his last three holes for a one-shot victory over Patrick Cantlay at The American Express. It's the third PGA TOUR win for the 25-year-old Korean, and the first since he won THE PLAYERS Championship in 2017. It also moves him up 60 spots to ninth in the FedExCup. Here are five stories you may have missed from The American Express. 1. Kim gets first W since THE PLAYERS Si Woo Kim looked like he might never lose again in winning THE PLAYERS Championship in 2017, but had gone 1,352 days without a victory. He had struggled with back pain, shooting an opening-round 87 in the first round of The American Express last year, and course strategy. "So when I missed the win, when I had the chance to have a win, I didn’t play very well," Kim said after tying his career best with eight final-round birdies. "I had a lot of ups and downs; I tried to play aggressive and then that actually made me lose." He tossed and turned Saturday night despite taking melatonin. He thought about what his coach had said, that he would have plenty of chances to win, to be patient, to believe in himself. "So that’s what I tried to do," he said after going 16 for 16 from inside 10 feet on the greens in the final round. "And then I tried not to be emotional and that helps me to the win." Kim hit 116 of 144 greens in regulation at The American Express and the Sony Open in Hawaii (T25), the most of any of the 97 players who competed in both tournaments. 2. Cantlay dazzles with wild weekend Just a single point separates FedExCup No. 2 Patrick Cantlay from front-runner Dustin Johnson after Cantlay shot 61 to break the course record and finish second at PGA West (Stadium). "I played about as good as I can possibly play," Cantlay said after beating the course record by two. His final round featured a 38-footer for birdie on 18, and recalled the 10-under 60 he shot as an amateur at the 2011 Travelers Championship. He called the two rounds "very comparable." Cantlay was trying to become the first player since Brandt Snedeker at the 2016 Farmers Insurance Open to win on TOUR after making the cut on the number, and there wasn't much more he could have done. His 18-under total on the weekend tied Rocco Mediate (2003) for best score in relation to par over the final two rounds of a 72-hole event on TOUR. One misstep: He bogeyed the par-5 eighth hole on the way to shooting 65 on Saturday. 3. Finau settles for another top-10 Although he shot 68 to finish fourth, Tony Finau wasn't looking at The American Express as his 35th top-10 finish since his lone PGA TOUR victory at the 2016 Puerto Rico Open. Instead, the 54-hole co-leader was looking at the AmEx more positively in light of his lackluster T31 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions two weeks ago. (He had gotten into the field as part of the exception made for players who qualified for last season's TOUR Championship.) "A couple of those guys just went really low today," Finau said from PGA West, where he birdied the first two holes but could only manage to go 2 under the rest of the way. "I had some opportunities, I think, to shoot a number. But, man, I’m kind of leaving today pretty encouraged. "I played nicely," he continued. "I’ve been working on some things in my golf swing, changed up the putter this week, some positives for me and I like where the game’s at. It’s real early in the calendar year. I didn’t play very good in Maui, so this is actually pretty encouraging for me." 4. Davis enjoys career-best result Cameron Davis made eight birdies for a bogey-free, 8-under 64, and his solo third-place finish was his best result on TOUR. What's more, the 2017 Australian Open winner wasn't all that far removed from his previous best, a T6 at the Sanderson Farms Championship last fall. "Yeah, I’ve been trending in a good direction for a while now," said Davis, 25. Everything just clicked, he added, contrary to other final rounds where he's been in the mix. "I had a bad ball-striking day and a good putting day and a couple of good ball-striking days and didn’t make any putts," he said. "I think for me to get over the line it’s just having four solid days in a row where I keep up every part of my game. I’m getting closer to it, it’s obviously great to keep seeing personal bests ... because that keeps you excited and keeps you working hard." 5. Ancer finishes strong Davis wasn't the only promising talent to make a run at his first victory. Mexico's Abraham Ancer, the runner-up finisher in The American Express last season, birdied his last three holes for a final-round 66 and a T5 finish. At 15 under par, he was eight back, and won't have to look far to find where he could have improved. His scoring line: 69-65-73-66. The 2019 Presidents Cup standout, who is not in the field for this week's Farmers Insurance Open, bogeyed the third hole but heated up with an eagle at the eighth before his back-nine heroics. Mexico's Carlos Ortiz - 10th in the latest FedExCup standings - remains the last first-time winner on TOUR after winning the Vivint Houston Open in early November. TOUR Top 10

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