Watch live: Tiger rising up on moving day

COPY HERE The 12th of 24 contributing events for PGA TOUR Champions One & Done presented by SERVPRO is this week’s Principal Charity Classic. It begins on Friday. Scroll for tournament notes, 18 notables and three wild cards from the field of 78 in Des Moines, Iowa. There’s an argument to be made that there are five 3-0 fastballs and one 3-2 changeup in the mix at the FedEx St. Jude Classic. Daniel Berger hasn’t been beaten in two consecutive appearances. He’s a go-to for front-runners but he’s humming along at only 84 mph or so with little movement. If your objective is to play defense, then look no further, but if you’re leading your league and still want to swing for the fences, pivot to … Dustin Johnson, the 2012 champ, who brings the heat just about everywhere and is buzzing beneath the radar of late, but that’s not a compliment. Besides, you’ll want him for a majors or in the FedExCup Playoffs, which brings into play … Billy Horschel, he of four straight top 10s at TPC Southwind since 2013 and recent winner (with Scott Piercy) in New Orleans, but he’s a better fit for chasers because of his higher risk not to contend. For the opposite experience, consider … Phil Mickelson, who shores up the left side of the rubber and remains in pursuit of his first title in Memphis, loves this tournament and the golf course. We hear that a lot from the soon-to-be 48-year-old (on June 16), but he’s backed it up in each of the last five editions of the St. Jude. Regardless of your position, he’s your man. But if you’ve already burned him, it’s time for … Brooks Koepka, the No. 1 in my Power Rankings and for whom I wrote in this space during the week of the Masters, “And who knows, there’s plenty of time for Brooks Koepka to crash the conversation.” That was in response to his extend his time away due to injury for what was another month. And indeed, it’s time to cash in on your patience regardless of your position. That’s quite a staff from which to choose your starter for the FedEx St. Jude Classic, but what if, like me, you’re looking to guess off-speed pitch on the full count? I never mind playing the push, which is to say that I subscribe to J-Wall’s philosophy on Koepka below, but I need to force the action even more. This is why Henrik Stenson gets the spot start. I’ve invested in almost nothing but chalk. I’ve drifted from my once-defiant narrative of playing aggressively. What’s more, I’ve started to hear from readers that I’ve gone soft and become predictable. Who better than the Swedish machine to silence the critics? Two-man gamers should consider Joaquin Niemann, Chez Reavie, Matt Jones, Austin Cook and Ben Crane. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES NOTE: Select golfers committed to the tournament are listed alphabetically. Future tournaments are sorted chronologically and reflect previous success on the courses on which the tournaments will be held in 2017-18. The numerical values in parentheses represent the order of relative confidence of where to use each golfer if multiple sites are listed (e.g. 1 for strongest, 2 for next-strongest and so on). To present weighted confidence in real time, numerical values will not change all season no matter how many tournament remain listed for each golfer. All are pending golfer commitment. Daniel Berger … St. Jude (1; two-time defending); Travelers (2) Kevin Chappell … St. Jude (5); WGC-Bridgestone (2); Dell Technologies (3) Tony Finau … Greenbrier (2); Canadian (4) J.B. Holmes … Greenbrier (5) Billy Horschel … St. Jude (1); TOUR Championship (4) Dustin Johnson … St. Jude (8); U.S. Open (13); Canadian (10); WGC-Bridgestone (14); PGA Championship (9); Dell Technologies (11); TOUR Championship (6) Brooks Koepka … St. Jude (3); U.S. Open (1; defending); Open Championship (4); WGC-Bridgestone (6); PGA Championship (2) Phil Mickelson … St. Jude (1); Open Championship (5) Ryan Palmer … St. Jude (6) Scott Piercy … John Deere (6) Charl Schwartzel … U.S. Open (5); Open Championship (6); WGC-Bridgestone (2) Brandt Snedeker … U.S. Open (5); Travelers (6); Canadian (3); Wyndham (4) Henrik Stenson … Open Championship (6); WGC-Bridgestone (4); PGA Championship (7); Wyndham (8; defending); Dell Technologies (9); TOUR Championship (2) CHAMPIONS ONE & DONE Principal Charity Classic Wakonda Club in Des Moines, Iowa, has served as the host since 2013. It’s a stock par 72 stretching 6,831 yards. Brandt Jobe returns to defend what remains his only title on the PGA TOUR Champions. At 14-under 202, he clipped co-runners-up Scott McCarron and Kevin Sutherland by one stroke. All previous champions at Wakonda are committed to play, including McCarron (2016), Mark Calcavecchia (2015), Tom Pernice, Jr. (2014) and Russ Cochran (2013). The total prize money of $1.75 million ties for lowest of all remaining tournaments this season. The winner will bank $262,500. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES NOTE: Select golfers committed to the tournament are listed alphabetically. Future tournaments are sorted chronologically and reflect previous success on the courses on which the tournaments will be held in 2018. The numerical values in parentheses represent the order of relative confidence of where to use each golfer if multiple sites are listed (e.g. 1 for strongest, 2 for next-strongest and so on). To present weighted confidence in real time, numerical values will not change all season no matter how many tournament remain listed for each golfer. All are pending golfer commitment. Stephen Ames … Principal (8); U.S. Senior Open (6); Boeing (2); Shaw (7) David Frost … U.S. Senior Open (4); 3M (7); Boeing (5); Shaw (8); PURE (1) Fred Funk … Boeing (6); PURE (5) Doug Garwood … SAS (1) Paul Goydos … 3M (1; defending); DICK’S (3); SAS (5) Lee Janzen … U.S. Senior Open (2) Brandt Jobe … Principal (3; defending); U.S. Senior Open (4); SENIOR PLAYERS (1); 3M (5); Boeing (8) Jerry Kelly … Boeing (1; defending); Shaw (5); PURE (2); SAS (4) Bernhard Langer … Usable everywhere. Defending five titles. Tom Lehman … Principal (1); U.S. Senior Open (3); SAS (9) Billy Mayfair … Boeing (2); PURE (1) Scott McCarron … Principal (1); SENIOR PLAYERS (3; defending); Senior Open Championship (10); DICK’S (4; defending); Shaw (5; defending); PURE (8) Tom Pernice, Jr. … Principal (2); Shaw (3); SAS (5) Kenny Perry … 3M (1); DICK’S (10); SAS (2) Gene Sauers … U.S. Senior Open (5); SENIOR PLAYERS (6); Boeing (1) Kevin Sutherland … Usable everywhere. David Toms … Boeing (2); SAS (4) Duffy Waldorf … Principal (6); Shaw (5) WILD CARDS (short list of golfers not included above but on the rise or still building portfolios after recently turning 50): Steve Flesch; Rocco Mediate; Scott Parel

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Let’s say you were drafting a team of players based on a 10-year time horizon. How long would it take to pick Jon Rahm? Just 27 years old, Rahm is a recent world No. 1 and in June will defend his U.S. Open title at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. He has led the PGA TOUR each of the last two seasons in Strokes Gained: Total and goes into this week’s Mexico Open at Vidanta as the season leader in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (+1.30 per round) and greens in regulation (73.5%). Since Strokes Gained tracking began in 2004, only one player has finished a TOUR season atop both of those statistical categories: Sergio Garcia in 2005. Let’s look at this week’s runaway pre-tournament favorite in Mexico, his statistical road to becoming a TOUR star, and why he’s poised to be one of the best players in the sport for years. RAPID RISE Rahm spent 60 weeks as the top-ranked amateur in the world, a record for the WAGR until earlier this year. As a 20-year-old amateur, he finished tied for fifth at the 2015 WM Phoenix Open, the first amateur to top-five in a TOUR event in seven years. His 11 tournament wins at Arizona State are second-most in program history, trailing only Phil Mickelson (16). Rahm was considered a can’t-miss prospect. He has not missed; to say he adapted quickly to the pro game is an understatement. In his first TOUR start as a pro, the 2016 Quicken Loans National, Rahm held the 36-hole co-lead and tied for third. Had he played enough rounds to officially qualify, Rahm would have finished his 2015-16 season in the top five on TOUR in birdie average, scoring average, Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and Strokes Gained: Putting. Rahm collected his first TOUR victory at the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open, becoming the first player to win his debut at the Farmers since Arnold Palmer in 1957, and the first player to eagle the 72nd hole to win the event since Tiger Woods in 1999. Four years later, Rahm would join Woods as a U.S. Open champion at Torrey Pines, claiming his first major championship win. BALANCED GREATNESS Since the beginning of 2020, Rahm is averaging 1.90 Strokes Gained: Total per round. Not only is that the highest average of any player on TOUR in that span, it’s 0.32 strokes ahead of second-best, Webb Simpson. The difference between Rahm and Simpson – one and two – is the same as the gap between Simpson and Will Zalatoris, who ranks 10th. Strokes Gained: Ball Striking is a statistic that combines the number of shots a player gains per round against the field with his drives and approach play. Rahm leads the TOUR in that statistic since January of 2020, at +1.43 strokes per round. Collin Morikawa is second at +1.41. While some rely on a singular aspect of their game, Rahm can do it all, which separates him from the pack. Since the beginning of 2020, there are more than 230 players with 40 or more rounds measured by ShotLink. Of that group, only three players have averaged 0.4 Strokes Gained or more Off-the-Tee, Approach and in Short Game (Around-the-Green plus Putting): Rahm, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay. Another way to illustrate that balance is through percentage of strokes gained – how much does each discipline (Off-the-Tee, Putting, etc.) factor into a single player’s success? There are 59 players averaging at least 0.50 Strokes Gained: Total per round since January of 2020. Only 11 of them owe at least 15% of that sum to each of Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, Approach and Putting. Rahm is one of them. Let’s go back even further, though – to Rahm’s professional debut. Since June of 2016, there are more than 200 statistically-qualified players on TOUR. Only two of them have gained a quarter of a stroke or more on the field, per round, in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, Strokes Gained: Approach, and Strokes Gained: Putting – Rahm and Schauffele. Since turning pro, Rahm has been elite off the tee, but can attribute his consistency to being well above average in every facet of the game. MAJOR CONSISTENCY That balanced performance has translated nicely at the game’s biggest championships. A brilliant Saturday 65 at the 2018 Masters pushed Rahm into major championship contention for the first time as a pro. He would ultimately finish fourth, his first career top-five in a major, and since then, he has added five more top-five finishes, trailing only four-time major winner Brooks Koepka for most in that span. Since 2018, Rahm is ranked fourth in scoring average in the majors, where he is fifth in Strokes Gained: Total. He’s second in cumulative score to par (-44) and rounds in the 60s (28), again only trailing Koepka during that stretch. Rahm has finished in the top 10 in five of his last six major starts, the only exception coming at the recent Masters (T-27). LOOKING FOR PUTTING REBOUND Rahm has struggled a bit this season on the greens, tumbling 90 spots in the Strokes Gained: Putting ranking – 132nd this season from 42nd in 2021. He has especially struggled from four to eight feet, where he currently ranks 191st on TOUR. Rahm was in the top 30 in that statistic last season. There is reason for optimism on this front, though. At the Masters, Rahm ranked 20th in Strokes Gained: Putting among players to make the cut, gaining one-third of a stroke per round on the field. A return to his old self on the greens could lead to a big summer.

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